There's More to Life than Death
by Kathey0607
Summary: Dominic's new friend finds that she and String have some things incommon.
1. Prologue

I wish to acknowledge Enfleurage for being my Beta Reader. Her advice has been a great addition to my story. There's more to Life then Death

Based on the TV Show "Airwolf," whose copy writes is the property of Mr. Donald P. Bellisario.

**Plot:** A friend of Dominic Santini finds herself running from a mob syndicate as they hunt her down to get a ledger and list of Swiss Bank accounts that were hidden in her meager belongings.

Prologue

String was lying awake in his bed when he heard the approach of the helicopter. _That' not Dom's helicopter, _he told himself as he quickly stood and dressed. He past his guest and out the door, he stood leaning on one of the roof supports on the porch, and watched as Michael and Marella traversed the last four yards towards his cabin.

"What have you found out?" String asked when their approach was close enough to call out to them.

Michael didn't respond until he had reached the porch, "We have a problem," he said in a grave voice, as he handed Hawke an envelope that had already been opened. "Damascus has Dominic. I stopped by the hangar this morning to talk with Dominic before he was scheduled to fly out here," Michael began to explain, "and I found that letter on the hanger door."

Cassie quickly moved to the open door and looked pleadingly into Michael's eyes as if looking for something that would indicate she had heard wrong.

"What are they asking for?" Hawke asked, as he pulled the letter out of the envelope.

"They want to trade him for Cassie and her belongings."

Hawke turned and looked at the young woman standing in the doorway and then back to Michael.

Cassie's mind was reeling, a good man was in saver danger and it was her fault. She wanted to tell String that their only option was to make the trade. But she also knew that by so doing she would, very likely be trading with her life. She stood staring at the two men unable to speak, as tears rolling down her cheeks.

"It says here that they will call the phone at the hanger at 8:00am and give us the details for the place and time of the exchange," Hawke pointed out as he finished reading the letter. He looked up at Michael, "That doesn't give us much time."

_When was this nightmare going to stop_? Cassie asked herself. By allowing Dominic to help her she had endangered his life. Cassie was beginning to understand Hawke's view of life.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**The Cold Shoulder**

Dominic was working in his office finishing up some paper work when he heard "Dinner is here!" A young woman called out as she came in through the door of Santini Air.

Her name is Cassie Terry, a young woman of 24, with long and strait auburn hair, which lay loosely over her shoulders. Her complication was light in color; she was defiantly not a sun worshiper. Her brown eyes were kept behind a simple pair of eye glasses, and she was wearing a pair of jeans and a loose fitting tee shirt with little to no make up. Cassie was a simple Plain-Jane type of a woman but her true beauty lay with in. She was carrying a medium size box that sent out an aroma that makes the taste buds water.

"Hey Cassie," Dominic Santini called from the office at the back of the hanger. He came rushing up to Cassie, "Here let me take that."

"Thanks,' Dom, Cassie replied as she handed him the box and then turned back to the door and went out again. A few moments later she came back in carrying a bowl of salad and a grocery bag filled with paper plates, plastic cups, plastic cutlery, and napkins.

Dom was standing over a folding table that had been set up in preparation for Cassie's arrival. On the table sat the box, which Dom had opened to reveal two casserole dishes inside, one smaller then the other. He leaned over the box and took in the aroma coming from the foil-covered dishes.

"Ah home cooking!" Dom exclaimed with a big smile on his face.

Cassie set the bowl and sack on the table next to the box and proceeded to pull out their contents and set them out on the table. Dom turned to her, a wide grin on his face that showed the gap between his front teeth, "Cassie you always out do yourself."

Cassie returned the smile and replied, "Maybe so Dom, but you are worth it." Then she turned back to arranging the cutlery and removing the cover from over the salad. Dom moved to the box and pulled out the warm casserole dishes.

Cassie looked around the hanger and commented, "So, where's the cold shoulder?"

The smile on Dom's face vanished for a moment. He knew she was referring to String, he looked at Cassie with a tinge of sadness in his eyes, and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think he's going to be here this time." He then looked down at the casserole dishes and rubbed his hands together, as a smile quickly returned to his face and he exclaimed, "What do we have today?"

Cassie smiled and replied, "Bells Rice and a tossed spinach salad with poppy seed dressing." After a brief pause she added, "and I made something special for String too."

"Oh!" Dom remarked as his eyebrows rise, "What's the occasion?"

"Everyone needs a friend who does nice things for them and Hawke doesn't have enough," Cassie answered. She kind of liked Hawke and felt sorry for him and wanted to do something to help him to be a happier person. He always seemed to be so sad. She shrugged her shoulders and points to the small casserole dish covered with aluminum foil. "You can save this for him. It's easy to warm up."

Dom smiled and asked, "What's in it?" Knowing String was a very picky eater.

"It's a vegetarian dish made of rice, sour cream monetary jack cheese and chili peppers." She replied. Then with a knowing smile on her face, she pointed to the larger casserole dish and added, "But that one is for us and it has chicken in it."

Cassie then remembered that there was another young man who worked for Dominic and that he often joined them when she brought in dinner, "Is Rick going to join us today?" Rick was Dom's grunt man. He helped clean up, answer the phone and run errands.

"Yeah!" Dom replied, "He will be her soon."

"Should we wait for him?" Cassie asks as she looked towards the hanger door, as if she thought he would come waking in now.

"Naw!" Dom replied, with his gaped tooth grin, "We can't let it get cold." Then a thought came to Dominic. "Hey! Let me go grab a couple of beers to go with dinner." He turned and headed towards his office where he kept a small refrigerator.

"Wait Dom," Cassie called out. Realizing she had left a thermos of punch out in the car. She didn't like being around when any alcoholic beverages were consumed. "I brought some punch for us to drink," she quickly explained as she hurried back out the door with a shy smile on her face.

Dom stopped his progress towards the office and watched as she hurried out the door. Almost as quickly as she had gone out, she was rushing back in carrying an insulated gallon jug. She set it on the table and retrieved a plastic cup from the supplies she had brought and filled it with some punch and handed it to Dominic. "Now, taste this and tell me what you think." She watched his face in hopes he would like the punch and be willing to forgo his beer.

Dom took the cup from Cassie and looked down into the cup, it looked like orange juice. He raised the cup and took a drink. Then his eyes opened wide with delight and a smile quickly stretched across his face and he exclaimed, "Hey, that is good. What's in it?"

"Orange juice and lemonade with a little sugar and almond extract," Cassie replied, relieved that he liked it. She teasingly shook her finger at Dominic and said with a motherly tone, "And it's a lot better for you then beer." As she pointed the same finger towards his office.

"Yeah! Well maybe so," Dom grumbled. He enjoyed a cold beer at the end of the day.

Cassie could hear the disappointment in Dom's voice and she looked down at her feet. "Look Dom," she said, "I know I have no right to tell you what to drink." Then she looked back up looking at Dom over the top of her glasses and said, "But could we please keep the beer in the fridge until after I leave?" She watched his face with hope that he would accept her suggestion.

"Oh, Cassie," Dom replied, he could see the pleading look in her eyes and knew that her request was not truly bias towards anyone who drank alcohol. It was just something that didn't settle with her for some reason. He didn't understand, but he was willing to accommodate. His big gaped tooth smile returned to his face and he took another drink of the punch. "This really does taste good."

"What tastes good?"

Both Dom and Cassie where startled and turned towards the hanger door, where the voice of Stringfellow Hawk had come from. Hawke was wearing sunglasses that hid his blue eyes, blue jeans and an inexpensive polo type maroon shirt. He walked over to where Dominic was standing by the table and removed the sun glasses and put them in his shirt pocket.

"String! I see you decided make it," Dom exclaimed.

String turned to look at Cassie and offered a quick but monotone, "Hi," in her direction, then just as quickly he turned back to Dom and asked, "Made it for what?"

Dom frowned at String. He had told him that Cassie was bringing dinner for them today and had made a point of inviting him to join in. "What do you mean, 'made it for what'?" Dom responded sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and threw his hands into the air in exasperation. Then he gestured with one hand towards Cassie and the other towards the table and the food sitting on it, "Why Cassie's good home cooking," he exclaimed. "And she even made something special just for you." He pointed to the smaller casserole dish.

"Why," Hawke asked, as he walked passed Cassie and on into the office, where he retrieved a beer from the refrigerator. Then he returned to the doorway of the office and leaned up against the doorframe, opened his beer and took a drink.

"Because it's the nice thing to do," Cassie remarked. As usual he was quick to irritate her. "No one said you had to eat it," she bit back. She then turned her back to him and started putting some food on a plate. String remained in the doorway watching Cassie and Dom dish up their plates and move over to a desk where they sat down together eat chat with each other, with no attempt to including Hawke in their conversation.

After another drink or two of his beer, Hawke wandered over to the folding table and lifted a corner of the foil covering the smaller casserole dish. "What in it?" he asked with a monotone voice.

Cassie and Dom turned from their conversation to look at him. Cassie replied, "Oh a little arsenic rounded off with a large dose of cayenne pepper."

Dom shook his head as he considered these two. Sometimes, he thought they acted like they were siblings. They both cared for the wellbeing of the other and yet treated each other in ways they knew would antagonize the other.

Hawke knew Cassie well enough to know that there was no arsenic or cayenne pepper in the food she had prepared for him. "What else?" String asked, as he turned to look at Cassie with his stone poker face.

Cassie shrugged her shoulders as she returned Hawks stare, and rattled off the true ingredients in the casserole. "Rice, Monterey Jack Cheese, sour cream and green chilies." Then she pointed at the tossed salad and added, "That's a spinach salad with mandarin oranges, sugar toasted almonds and cheese with poppy seed dressing to go on top. But just for you I put in a little cyanide."

She turned back to Dominic and picked up their conversation where they had left off."

Dom looked over the top of Cassie's head to where String was standing, a glint of humor in his eyes and encouragingly suggested, "Come on, String, try it. It's really good." He turned back to his plate and forked a mouth full of food into his mouth and chewed while exclaiming, "Mmmmm." Then, in hopes that String would not feel to much pressure to eat the food, he quickly returned his attention to Cassie and their conversation.

With a small twitch of a smile showing at one corner of his mouth, Hawke turned back to the table and finished removing the aluminum foil off the casserole dish. Picking up a paper plate, he dished some out for himself, and then walked back into Dom's office to eat it. As he ate his exceptional hearing allowed him to listen in on the conversation between Dominic and Cassie.

Moments later, Dominic and Cassie's conversation was interrupted as the door to the hanger opened and Rick walked in. Rick was wearing his usual pair of dark grey overalls.

"Smells great," he exclaimed walking quickly towards the folding table and the food. As he passed the desk where Dominic and Cassie were sitting, he asked, "Did you guys leave any for me?"

Cassie offered him a big smile and responded, "Always." Then she turned towards the open door of Dom's office where she could see Hawke sitting with his back towards them and raised her voice so he could hear her, and declared, "I'm glad someone appreciates my cooking."

Instantly Cassie heard a reprove from Dominic, "Hey! What about me?" he exclaimed. "I like your cooking!"


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**The Teachings of Good Parents**

Cassie blushed as she turned back to Dom to offer a quick apology and thank him for his compliment. Then she raised her voice again and exclaimed, "I was referring to Hawke."

Hawke shook his head at Cassie's retort, then with half a grin coming to his face, he turned and said, "I guess it's a good thing for us that you only bring dinner in every once in a while." He turned his eyes and looked straight at Dominic, and concluded, "Or Dom here would be a little plumper." He quickly glanced back at Cassie with a twinkle of humor in his eyes as well as an unspoken acknowledgement that he too liked her cooking.

"Well, you ungrateful pup," Dom grumbled as he picked up his napkin and attempted to throw it at String.

Hawke's smile broadened and he said to Dominic, "Not very aerodynamic. As a pilot you could have done better."

With that all four of them laughed, then they all returned their attention to their food and conversation while Hawke turned his back to them and ate his dinner while listening to their conversation.

"Dominic, how were you so lucky to meet Cassie?" Rick asked,

Cassie held up her hand waving it to get their attention, as her mouth was full of food, to indicate she wanted to answer. After she had swallowed, she announced, "Dom was my savior!"

Dom blushed a little and chuckled, "Well more like a good Samaritan." He went on to explain. "I was on the road behind Cassie one day when she blew a tire out on her car." With a frown and a look of real concern he added, "For a minute, I thought she was going to roll the car."

With a slight chuckle Cassie said, "The only reason I didn't was because my guardian angel was looking over my shoulder."

"Yeah, well I stopped and helped her change the tire. All she had for a spare was one of those dinky doughnuts you're only suppose to drive a few miles on. So I followed her to the nearest tire shop just in case she had any more problems."

Cassie joined in to explain, "Not only, did he help me out with the tire, he was kind and helped to calm me down and reassured me that everything was going to be OK." With a tone of sincerity she added, "I needed that more then I needed his help changing the tire. He is a true gentleman."

"Yeah, Dom's a real gentleman," Hawke called out from the office with a tone of agreement and a little quip of sarcasm. Dom smiled, shook his head and rolled his eyes at the comment.

"I still don't understand," Rick said. "How did that turn into dinner being delivered?" Then he quickly added, "Not that I'm against it," as he lifted his plate to indicate appreciation for the food.

"That would be my parents' doing," Cassie said.

Hawke had never heard this part of the story and he was curious enough to inquire further. Turning to look at Cassie he asked, "What do you mean? Your parents are responsible for you bringing Dom dinner?"

Cassie chuckled. "Well you see…" She paused for a moment, her eyes looking off in to her past as she thought of her parents. "My Mother always told me, 'Never let good deeds go without reward'. So after Dom saw me safely to the tire shop, I promised him a good home cooked dinner for his help."

"That explains dinner, but why do you deliver?" Rick continued to inquirer.

"Well, my Dad always advised," Cassie cleared her throat and lowered her voice, "'Cassie, always do whatever you can to do your part and earn your way through life.' So with Dominic's busy life style it was just easier to have me bring dinner here at the hanger because it was hard for him to find time when he could leave his work."

Dom smiled happily and said, "I couldn't turn her down and go against both of her parents' instruction."

"Besides," Cassie said, "The people I work for, and live with, won't allow me to bring anyone into their home."

A frown came to Dominic face at the mention on Cassie's employer. That was a subject he didn't want to discuss, so he skirted around it. "Well who am I to turn down a good meal?"

"That explains how you earned the first meal," Rick said. "But if Cassie cooks for you as a reward or pay back, then tell me how you earn this meal?" he asked, pointing to the food table, with a mischievous grin.

Dom looked over to Cassie with a blank face and shrugged. "Nothing. Cassie just called up and asked if I was hungry and could she visit and bring dinner."

Cassie quickly jumped in to explain, "Dom, every time I bring you dinner I get to visit with a good friend and get away from the Erickson's for a while." She paused to look at Dominic her eyes conveying her appreciation for their friendship. "So you have earned every bite I bring you."

"So what did Rick and I do to earn our dinner?" Hawke asked.

Cassie looked over towards the office to see Hawke leaning agent the doorframe, staring at her. She returned his stare and said, "Well, that is thanks to my Mom as well. She instructed me to, 'never leave anyone out.' She then turned her gaze to Rick to include him and went on to say, "And she also instructed that I should, 'Never let any one leave my table hungry.'" Cassie turned to Dominic and with a smile added, "She always says, 'It's better to have too much food than not enough.'"

With that, String raised his beer bottle and said, "Here to Cassie's Mom and Dad." Both Dominic and Rick raised their cups of punch and joined in with a "Here, Here!"

Cassie looked at the bottle of beer in Hawke's hands and meekly suggested, "You should try some of my punch."

Hawk knew about Cassie's aversion to beer and liquor. But he shrugged and said, "Maybe later."

Dominic piped up, "You really should try some, String. It's very good."

Finishing the last of his beer, String tossed the bottle into the garbage can next to Dom's desk and moved over to the table with the food, he looked at the punch container for a moment then announced, "Maybe later." Giving everyone the understanding to stop pushing the idea.

With that, Dominic, Cassie and Rick turned back together and visited as they finished eating.

Hawke had finished his food, a benefit of not taking the time to talk while eating, so he looked around the room in search of something else to do. Finally he walked across the hanger and started working on some regular maintenance for Dominic's red, white and blue helicopter.

It wasn't long after that, that Rick stood and thanked Cassie for the dinner. Then he excused himself and left.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Everyone Needs Friends

Dom and Cassie visited a little while longer, then Cassie stood up and began cleaning up the paper plates and gathering things up in preparation to carry them back out to her car. "Hey Dom," she called out over her shoulder, "where do you want me to put these leftovers?"

"You don't need to leave it for us," Dom replied. "Take it home and feed it to the kids."

"I can't," Cassie replied with a sigh. "Their mother won't let them." She paused, "It's very frustrating. I'm only allowed to feed them what she approves of and that does not include any of my own cooking ideas."

"Why?" Dom asked.

"I don't know" Cassie replied. Taking a deep breath, she added, "Probably another one of her power trips."

Dominic put his hands on his hips and furrowed his forehead, as his irritation for this family was renewed. "How long are you going to put up with that family before you move on?" Dom ranted. "They don't appreciate you at all."

Hawke had been listening to their conversation from across the room and looked up from his work to see the same irritation on Dominic's face that he had heard in his words. Hawke left what he was working on and quietly walked over to where Cassie and Dominic were standing.

"Look Dom," Cassie sighed. "Let's not get into this." Cassie returned to her consolidation of the paper plates, napkins, cups and plastic cutlery into the now empty box. "Besides, working for the Erickson's provides me with an opportunity to learn how to work around problems that show up from time to time in everyone's life."

Hawke interrupted the conversation, "Your point of view is only correct when both parties are trying to work thing out." He then went on to agree with Dominic and said, "It's obvious to us that you are not happy with the Erickson's," Hawke pointed out. "And I think I'm safe in saying that they have no intention of working things out in your favor."

Cassie knew that what Hawke had said was closer to the truth then her statement was, but she had already told herself that she needed to stick out the contract she had with the Erickson's. "Look Guys," she said, frustrated with how her relaxing evening was turning into arguments and aggravation, "I only have five months left in my contract and then I can honorably move on. And I assure you, I will move on."

Hawke looked Cassie in the eyes and said, "It's your life." Then as he turned away from her he added, "Just don't complain to us about your choices." Then he turned his back on her and started back to his maintenance.

Anger welled up with in Cassie. "I wasn't complaining," she said struggling to keep her voice calm and under control. "I was simply explaining to Dominic why I couldn't take the leftovers home to the kids."

Hawke turned back around and saw the anger flashing in Cassie's eyes.

"And it's a good thing for you that I don't give up so easily," she shouted at him. She paused, then quickly added, "That way you still have time to realize that I'm, your friend too."

Cassie turned to Dominic and said, "I'll come back later on this week to collect my dishes Dom." Then she marched out the door, slamming it behind her.

Dom turned to look at Hawke and asked, "String, why do you have to be so blunt with her? We both know she's going through a hard time being a nanny for those ungrateful people." He paused, realizing that he was just as guilty as String was for Cassie's blow up. "She is trying her best to honor their contract, which is the right thing to do."

"Yeah," Hawke replied, "She's a good kid." Then he got back to the maintenance he was working on before their heated conversation began.

Dominic moved over to the table and finished cleaning it up. He put the leftovers into the refrigerator and the rest of the stuff on the table into the cardboard box and moved the box into his office. He returned to the table and was in the process of folding it up when the hanger door opened.

Both Dom and String turned to see Cassie standing in the open door way.

"You forget something?" Hawke asked her.

Without making eye contact she responded, "I can't go anywhere without the keys to the car."

Cassie had been sitting outside in her car struggling to get her anger under control enough, so that she could return back inside to get the car keys that she had left behind.

Wanting to smooth things out, Dominic asked, "Where did you leave them?"

"On the table, I think?" Cassie answered as she looked at the table, resting on its side, in the process of being folded up. Then she looked over towards the office, thinking that would be the most likely place for Dominic to have moved the items that had once been sitting on the table. She proceeded in that direction with out any more comment.

After she passed him, Dom looked at String and nodded his head in Cassie's direction to indicate, now would be a good time to apologize. Hawke walked over to the office door and watched Cassie as she picked up and moved things around as she looked for her keys.

"Cassie," he began, and then he paused. "Look I'm sorry." Again he paused looking for the right thing to say. Then he looked her in the eye and said, "I want you to know that I'm your friend too."

Cassie stopped looking for her keys and turned to look at Hawke. "Thanks," she replied. Then she returned back to looking around for her keys. She finally found them in the bottom of the cardboard box.

With the keys in hand she looked at Dominic and said, "I'll go ahead and take the punch container home with me tonight." Then she indicated the plates and other eating utensils. "I'm sure we will be using them again, so will it be okay if I leave them here?"

"Sure," Dom said, a big smile returning to his face.

Then she looked over to Hawke and saw a weak smile on his lips as well.

"Please eat the leftovers," Cassie encouraged.

Then she walked over to Dominic and gave him a hug, which he freely returned. When they parted, Cassie looked him in the eye and with a smile she said, "Dom, your heart is pure gold. Thanks for being my friend."

Dom returned her look with a big smile on his face. "That makes two things we have in common," he replied. And he put his arm around her shoulders and walked her towards the door.

Hawke's curiosity was peeked and he asked, "What's the first thing you two have in common?

With a smile on her face Cassie called out over her shoulder, "We both enjoy taking care of other peoples kids."

Dom walked her to the car and opened the door for her to get in. Cassie smiled at him as she got into car. And Dom watched her waved as she drove off.

Dom turned to go back inside and found String standing in the doorway.

"She really is a pretty good kid," String said, and then he turned and walked back into the hanger.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 A Bad Fall

Greg Erickson, his wife Cindy and their two children, Thomas - 9 years old and Tiffany - 3 years old lived in a very spacious 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom home with a swimming pool and tennis courts. Greg was a tall, plump man with brown eyes and dark hair that was thinning on top. As the president of The Bank of Comers, he was sitting in his office, at his executive mahogany desk, pondering his status in life. He was pleased to be providing very well for himself and his family. Indeed they wanted for nothing, thanks to the little service he provided for Mr. Carmichael Damascus.

Greg had convinced himself that he was only offering Mr. Damascus the same professional service that he offered to most of his other clientele. It's not like he was selling drugs to kids or selling weapons to the enemy, he told himself. All he had to do was take the money that was brought to him by Damascus's men and make sure that it got, legitimately, into the dummy corporations and various Swiss Bank accounts. He was also sure that there were other clientele that had some kind of shady dealings going on in their lives and he was faithfully serving them as well.

Greg checked his watch. He was expecting a delivery from Damascus's men any time now. While he was waiting, Greg used this time to make sure his tie was straight and that his desk was clear of anything that might be unbecoming of a bank President. His actions were interrupted when his secretary's voice come over the intercom.

"A Mr. Stockholm and Mr. Kensington to see you Mr. Erickson."

Greg quickly reached out and pushed the button on the intercom and replied, "Thank You, Miss White, Please send them in."

Two men dressed in suits came in through the office door. One was tall with blond hair and blue eyes and clean-shaven, carrying a briefcase. The other man was not as tall as his companion, with brown hair and brown eyes and sporting a well-trimmed beard. The three men made the necessary pleasantries, and then Mr. Stockholm placed his briefcase on Greg's desk and opened it, pulling out a thick manila envelope and handed it to Greg. He sat down in a chair in front Greg's desk while Mr. Kensington remained standing by the door.

"Mr. Damascus wants me to tell you that he is very pleased with your services." Stockholm said.

Greg sat down in his big leather office chair and smiled back at the two men. "It is a pleasure to serve you, as always."

"Mr. Damascus has instructed me to tell you to take an additional five percent instead of the regular fifteen percent, for your cut," Stockholm said.

Greg was very pleased to hear of this increase and in the back of his mind, he was thinking of several ways he could spend the extra money.

"Please tell Mr. Damascus thank you for me." Greg inclined his head towards the seated man, a large smile on his face.

Mr. Stockholm went on talking, as if Greg had not offered his thanks.

"Mr. Damascus has instructed me to tell you, that this will be the last delivery for you to take care of." After a brief pause he continued. "He believes it is time to move on to other financial establishment. Your services have been getting some notice, and Mr. Damascus feels that this information may be getting to the wrong people.

Greg's mouth went dry. "I assure you that every care is made to cover our tracks and that Mr. Damascus has nothing to fear," he quickly counseled.

"That may be the case," Stockholm said. "But Mr. Damascus has not been in the business this long without being cautious." He stood and closed his briefcase. "You have a good day Mr. Erickson," he said. Then both men quietly left the office, while Greg remained seated at his desk as the dread of this new information, and its repercussions, sank fully into his mind.

Dominic was busy working on one of his helicopters when the phone rang. Grumbling about the interruption he walked over and picked up the phone, "Santini Air, how can I help you?"

"Hi Dom, this is Cassie."

Dom face brightened at the sound of her voice. "Hey, Cassie, what can I do for you today?" he responded.

"Not too much. Today is my day off and I was wondering if I could stop by and pick up my dishes?"

"Sure," he answered. "I'm going to be working in the hangar most of the day, so you can stop by any time."

"Great. I'll be by in about an hour. Bye, Dom."

Cassie hung up the phone. She was sitting on her bed in the bedroom on the west end of the Erickson's home where she worked and lived as a nanny for their children, as well as their maid and servant. Mrs. Erickson had agreed to pay Cassie twice the amount she had paid her previous nanny due to the fact that Cassie had Emergency Medical training and previous experience as a nanny. But she was determined to get her money's worth out of Cassie. After her arrival, Cassie soon found that there was more expected of her than keeping the house clean and caring for the children.

She walked out of her bedroom and past the children's rooms and on down the stairs, stepped into the kitchen, where she prepared herself a sack lunch. She was planning to visit one of the mountain parks in her area and spend the day enjoying nature and working on her current crafting project. Any day she could get out of that house was truly an escape, for the simple fact that she was out of the control and stares of Mrs. Cindy Erickson.

Cassie returned to her room to collect her craft box and her jumpy, a tackle box filled with first aid equipment. Cassie had assembled it after she'd finished her Emergency Medical Training. That way she would always have the basic equipment needed to assist the sick or injured. As she carried her stuff down the stairs, she had to laugh at herself. She had carried this tackle box around for over 6 years now and she had only used it on children's cuts and scrapes. Most of the time the jumpy sat up in her room but today she decided to take it with her. She always took it with her whenever she traveled to places where it might be needed. She never knew when she might come across the need to use the equipment in it.

Cassie's plan was to stop at Santini Air on her way to the mountains. She would pick up her dishes and visit with Dom for a little while and then she would spend the rest of the day relaxing alone.

As Cassie pulled up in front of the hangar, she saw that Dominic was up on a tall ladder, working on the track that the big hangar doors rolled open and closed on. She got out of the car and held her hand up to block out the sun that shined over the top of the hangar, as she looked up to where Dominic was working.

"Hi Cassie," Dom called out. "I'll be with you in a minute." Then he stretched his arms out and reached over to work on something that was just at the end of his reach.

As she watched Cassie called out, "You be careful!"

Dom chuckled. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing!"

Cassie turned to watch an airplane take off down the runway when she heard Dominic cry out, followed with a crash. She quickly spun around to find Dominic lying on the pavement with the ladder he had been standing on under him.

"Dom!" She cried out as she ran to his still form.

Cassie kneeled at Dom's side. Her first observations told her he was unconscious and that he had hit his head. There was a two inch cut on his forehead, beginning at his hair line down to his left bushy eyebrow. Cassie quickly checked to make sure he was still breathing, and then she called for Rick to come and help her.

Rick had heard Dom shout and was already running towards the hangar. At his approach, she called to him and asked him to get into the back seat of the car and pull out the tackle box and bring it to her. Rick paused. He didn't understand why she wanted fishing gear at a time like this. "Hurry please," She urged.

Rick ran to the car, grabbed the tackle box and brought it over to Cassie. She quickly took the box from him and opened it, pulling out a gauze pad, that she opened and placed it over the cut on Dom's temple.

"Rick, help me to roll him so we can get this ladder out from under him."

Once the ladder was moved and Dominic was laying flat on the ground, Cassie instructed Rick to hold gentle pressure on the gauze pad to help stop the bleeding. She continued gently working down Dom's body with her hands, checking for broken bones or other possible injuries. She pulled out a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope from the bottom of the tackle box and took Dominic's blood pressure. When she finished she pulled out a small notebook and pen from the tackle box and made some notations. She took his pulse and respiration and recorded that information into the notebook too.

Dominic moaned and tried to sit-up.

"Take it easy Dom," Cassie cautioned, as she gently held him down.

"What happened?" He asked.

"You took a tumble," Cassie answered as she offered him a reassuring smile. "Can you tell me where you hurt?"

Dom looked up at Cassie. She was smiling down at him, but he could see concern in her eyes.

Cassie asked again, "Where does it hurt?"

Dominic took a moment to consider where he hurt. "My head and my right side," he replied.

"Okay," Cassie smiled at him and gently pressed on his rib cage. Dom cried out in pain and tried to pull away from Cassie's probing. "Sorry," Cassie apologized to him, "Looks like you may have some broken ribs," she said, as she turned back to her tackle box and pulled out two triangular bandages. Gently, she pulled Dom's right arm up across his chest and using one of the bandages put it in a sling and tied it at the side of his neck.

"My arm doesn't hurt," he protested. He was starting to feel stupid for falling.

Cassie smiled as she worked to slip the second Triangular bandage under him, and then she wrapped it around his torso and the slinged arm and tied it at his left side.

"I'm using your good arm to splint those injured ribs of yours," she explained.

While Cassie was confidently working to help Dom, Rick watched her work with amazement and surprise, especially each time she turned to the tackle box and pulled out additional medical supplies to use on Dom.

Cassie had now pulled out a roll of 3-inch gauze and proceeded to wrap it around Dom's head to secure the gauze pad that Rick had been holding on the cut on Dom's head. Then she retrieved a chemical ice pack from the box, broke the inner packet and shook it, so that the two chemicals would mix and make it turn cold. She rested that on Dom's head over the cut, and then she quickly took another set of vital signs and recorded them in her little notebook. She gathered her equipment and returned it back into the box and closed it.

She bent back over Dominic's face and asked, "How are you doing? Do you think you can stand with our help and get into my car?"

Dom nodded his head and reached out with his left arm and grabbed Rick's outstretched hand. Slowly, Rick pulled him up while Cassie gently wrapped an arm around his back on the right side and helped to steady him. Together they walked Dom over to Cassie's car. Cassie quickly slipped out from under Dom and opened the car door and reclined the seat. They both helped Dominic to get in and get somewhat comfortable.

"Rick, grab the tackle box and put it back in the car for me," Cassie called as she hurried around to the driver's side and climbed in so she could put a seatbelt around Dominic.

Rick turned and quickly retrieved the tackle box and returned to the car. "Where did you get this?" he asked as he opened the back door and put the tackle box on the floor of the back seat.

"That's a long story," Cassie replied. "Remind me to tell you about it another time." Cassie settled into the driver's seat and reached out to close the car door. "Shoot! Rick can you contact Hawke and let him know about Dominic's fall? Tell him that I'm taking him to St. Elmo's Hospital."

Rick nodded and turned back to run into the hangar as Cassie started the car and pulled away from the hangar. He ran into Dominic's office and pulled out the mike for the radio, "String, come in. This is Rick." There was a pause of static then. "What's up?" Hawke replied.

Rick quickly informed him about Dominic's fall.

"Is he okay?" Hawke asked urgently.

"He cut his head and Cassie thinks he has some broken ribs," Rick explained. "She wanted me to tell you that she is taking him to the Emergency room at St. Elmo's Hospital."

"Understood, Hawke out." String closed out the conversation and hurried to the helicopter parked on the lakeside dock of his cabin. Quickly, he worked to start the rotors and raised the helicopter off the landing pad and headed off to meet Cassie and Dom at the hospital. All the while, Hawke was wishing that Rick had called him before Cassie had loaded Dom into her car and drove off. "_I could have gotten him to the hospital a lot faster with the chopper and given him a smother ride as well._"


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Who will help Dom

Stringfellow Hawke gently guided the helicopter in for a landing in the back parking lot of St. Elmo's Hospital. He quickly shut down the craft and raced across the parking lot and into the emergency room.

"How is Dominic Santini?" he asked the nurse sitting behind the desk.

"I'm sorry, sir. There is no one by that name here," the nurse responded after checking her records for a Dominic Santini.

Hawke was considering looking for them in the helicopter when Cassie came in through the sliding doors to the Emergency waiting room and asked, "Can I get some help? I have a friend who's hurt."

Hawke turned at the sound of her voice and then ran passed her and out to the car. "Dom, are you okay?" he asked.

"I'll live," Dom replied grumpily.

Cassie was quickly at his side with a nurse following behind pushing a wheelchair. They carefully helped Dominic into the wheel chair and moved him into the emergency waiting room. Cassie quickly parked the car and then she joined them inside. The nurse was inquiring about what had happened.

"He fell from the top of an 18 to 20 foot ladder," Cassie told the nurse as she came walking up. Then before the nurse could inquire further, Cassie added. "He has a cut on his head as well as a possible concussion. He has also injured his ribs on the right side." She spoke with a confidence that made it clear she knew what she was talking about. "He was unconscious after the fall for about 2 minutes." Then she handed the nurse a piece of paper and explained. "These are his vital signs just after the fall and again about 10 minutes later."

The nurse took the paper from Cassie and looked at Dominic's bandaged head and the sling and swath on his arm. "We need to get some more information from you," the nurse said and she instructed them to move over to the receptionist. At that point Dominic moaned and swayed a little in the wheelchair as he brought his free arm up to his head.

"No!" Cassie interrupted the nurse, "He needs to get somewhere where he can lay down first. Then you can get his information from Mr. Hawke."

The nurse took one quick look at Dominic's pale face and nodded as she took control of the wheelchair and pushed it towards the door to the emergency treatment rooms. Cassie moved to follow as she instructed Hawke to give the receptionist the needed information about Dominic.

"Wait a minute," Hawke protested loudly. "I want to stay with Dom."

Cassie stopped following the nurse and turned to face him. "Hawke, the hospital needs to get his personal information. I don't know it so I can't give it to them." She paused to make sure that he was listening, then she continued to explain, "And the Nurse will need more information about Dom's accident. Since you weren't there, you can't answer those questions." Her eyes met his as she searched for his acceptance. "When you're finished you can come back and stay with Dom."

Hawke realized she was talking sense and he knew Cassie only had the best interest for Dominic's well being. He turned to the receptionist and Cassie went to be with Dominic, until Hawke was able to be with him.

Back in the little examination room, Cassie found Dom lying on a gurney. She quickly stepped to his side and touched his arm to let him know she was there. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"How I'm doing?" he retorted in a sarcastic tone. "Oh I'm doing fine." Then he growled, "For someone who fell off a 20-foot ladder."

"Okay, Dom," Cassie replied with a voice of reason. "I will rephrase my question. Is there anything new that the nurse or the doctor may need to know?"

"Yeah! It hurts. Do something about it," he barked.

Cassie replied, "Okay, I'll see what I can do about that."

She stepped back into the hallway and found an orderly passing by, "Could you get me an ice pack?" Then she stepped back into the room. She stood close to Dom and watched him as he lay on the gurney, resting with his eyes closed. This was a new side of Dominic that Cassie had not seen before and she wasn't sure how to respond to reassure or comfort him.

Moments later the nurse came in and took another set of vitals and recorded some information from both Dominic and Cassie about the fall and where Dominic was hurting. While this was going on, the orderly came in with the Ice pack Cassie had requested. Cassie took the Ice bag and thanked the orderly. She stepped over to Dominic's head and rested it on his cut. "This can help a little with the pain and keep down some of the swelling."

At that moment Hawke stepped into the examination room, having finished giving the receptionist Dominic's personal information. He took two quick steps and was standing next to Dominic, his face stern. He didn't say anything, as he kept his eyes on Dominic.

Dom opened his eyes and looked up at String. As his eyes focused on Hawke's face he said, "Don't worry String, I'll be fine."

"Yeah!" was all Hawke said.

The Nurse said she needed to remove Dominic's clothing so she could evaluate his injuries.

With that comment, Cassie touched String's arm and said, "I'll be out in the waiting room. Please keep me informed."

Hawke didn't reply, but he did look at her to acknowledge that he had heard her and understood.

Cassie left the examination room and walked out to her car, where she gathered up her lunch and her craft box and returned to the waiting room to wait for further news.

It was about an hour later when Hawke came out to the waiting room looking for her.

"They took him back to get X-rays and a CAT scan," he explained as he sat down across from her.

Cassie looked up and nodded an acknowledgment. Then she lowered her head and returned to her needlework.

Hawke quietly watched her for a while. She was sitting in one of the plastic chairs. On the chair next to her sat a clear plastic storage box. Inside the box were embroidery floss, and plastic sheets with holes in them and other crafting tools and supplies. In her hands was a piece of plastic that she had cut into a specific shape and she was working to make a design on it with a needle and colored embroidery floss. On her lap was an opened craft book that she referred to from time to time.

After several minuets had passed, Cassie asked, "Has the doctor said much?"

Hawke shook his head.

"He'll be okay Hawke," Cassie reassured him. Then she returned her attention to the craft she was working on in her hands.

Neither one spoke for a long time. Then Hawke asked, "Where did you learn your first aid training?"

Cassie didn't look up from her work, as she answered, "I'm a certified EMT."

"A what?" String questioned.

Cassie raised her head up and with a smile explained, "I'm an Emergency Medical Technician."

Again there was silence for a long while, interrupted only when the Nurse came out and said, "You can return to the room and wait with your friend, The Doctor will be with him soon."

Cassie looked at Hawke to see if he would protest against her coming too.

Hawke caught her gaze, but didn't offer any protest or acceptance, Cassie quickly decided it would be okay for her to come too. She gathered up her crafting stuff, put it back into the box and picked it up and tucked it under her arm. Then she followed Hawke back into the examination room.

Dominic was lying on the gurney sleeping. Hawke sat down in one of the chairs along the wall, keeping his eyes on Dominic. Cassie walked to Dom's side and touched him on the arm. Dom's eyes opened and Cassie smiled at him and asked, "How are you doing?"

"I've been better," Dom grumbled. Then he asked, "Where's String?"

Cassie stepped aside so Dominic could see String. With a grunt, Dom relaxed and closed his eyes again.

Soon the Doctor came in and announced, "Mr. Santini has three cracked ribs and severe bruising on the right side of his chest and abdomen and a slight concussion."

A nurse came in behind the doctor and started pulling supplies and equipment from the cupboards and shelves along the walls of the room.

"We will stitch up that cut on his head and wrap his ribs, and then you can take him home, as long as there will be someone staying with him."

Both String and Cassie spoke up at the same time, "I'll stay with him."

The doctor looked at both of them for a moment, nodded his head and said, "Good." He then turned his attention back to the nurse and the tray she had prepped for him to stitch up the cut on Dominic's head. He picked up a pair of gloves and put them on, and then he picked up a syringe and began to inject some anesthesia around the wound on Dominic's head. Which he was quick to complain about it hurting.

While the Doctor was working on Dominic, String took Cassie by the arm and gently pulled her out of the examination room into the hallway.

"Look, I want to thank you for all you've done for Dom, but I can take care of him from here."

Cassie's gaze turned back to the room where Dominic was lying and responded quietly, "Hawke, I'm pretty sure that Dom's going to be alright." She turned back to String and looked him in the eye as she continued. "However with my training, I know that there is a possibility that things could take a turn for the worse with his concussion." She paused to allow the information to sink in and then continued, "With that same training I know what to watch for if that should happen." She paused, searching Hawke's face for any sign of understanding and acknowledgment to her offer to help watch over Dominic.

String could see real concern in her eyes. He nodded at her, indicating he understood what she had told him.

Cassie suggested, "Why don't I watch over him tonight and then you can take over first thing in the morning, when I have to be back at the Erickson's?"

"Thanks, but I've got it covered," Hawke insisted. "I'll fly him out to my cabin and watch over him there."

"That's a long way away from a doctor if he should have further problems," Cassie protested.

"Look, I flew in from my cabin, after I got Rick's call and I still beat you here," Hawke countered. "It's not going to be a problem."

With a sigh, Cassie pleaded, "I want to help, and I have medical training that can benefit Dom." She paused, then added, "At least for the first 24 hours, please let me help out."

String stared at Cassie for a minute. He could see she was truly concerned for Dominic's well being. The two staried each other down for a short time when Hawke finally agreed.

"Okay, you can come out to the cabin with us."

"No!" Cassie answered quickly. "It would be better to keep him at his place. That way when I need to leave, I'll be able to drive myself to the Ericson's and you won't have to leave Dominic alone to fly me back."

String stood looking into Cassie's eyes for a long while. Cassie didn't break eye contact with him and continued to return his stare. She had no intention of a confrontation, but she did want String to know that she was determined to help and that she wouldn't back off easily.

It was String who turned away first, breaking eye contact. "Okay." He agreed. "I'll take the chopper back to the hangar and then I'll meet you at Dominic's apartment."

"Thank you, Hawke," Cassie replied.

Cassie returned to Dominic's side and String walked out the doors and across the parking lot to the helicopter.

It was String's intention to get to Dominic's apartment before Cassie and Dom arrived. That way he could help get Dom up the stairs and settled into his bed. He was successful too, but he was not expecting the hour long wait before Cassie pulled into the parking lot of Dom's apartment complex.

"What took you so long?" String questioned, irritation in his voice, as he approached the car.

"Well, first I needed to pick up Dominic's pain medication from the hospital pharmacy," she began to explain.

Dominic interrupted and said, "If they had moved any slower they might have froze in their tracks." Then he held out his hand and demanded, "Don't just stand there. Help me up." Cassie saw a little tweak of a smile on Hawke's face as he reached out his hand and carefully helped Dominic to stand. The two walked up the stairs and into Dom's apartment. Cassie followed behind them carrying her tackle box, craft box and purse.

Once they were in the apartment, Hawke took Dominic to his room as he grumbled about not needing any help and that he wanted to be left alone. Cassie stepped into the kitchen and took a quick inventory of the contents in the refrigerator and cupboards. Then she sat down at the table and started making a shopping list.

String walked into the kitchen and asked, "Okay Cassie, what is the routine?"

Cassie looked up from the list she was compiling. "They gave him some pain medication at the hospital that will keep the pain under control so he can sleep but I need to check his vitals real quick so I have a baseline." She paused for a moment as she considered the list in front of her. "Then we let him rest."

She stood up from the table and walked over to where Hawke was standing. "We need to check him every hour for alertness. That way we will know if there is any swelling in his head. If we don't check on him regularly and there is swelling, he could quietly slip into a coma and then there would be real problems.

"We also need to make sure to give him his pain meds every 4 hours, at least for the first 24 hours. This will keep the pain under control so he can rest." With a sigh she added, "And the rest we leave up to him." She handed Hawke her grocery list. "Would you please go pick up this list of things? I need them to make dinner and for Dominic." She watched Hawke, noticing that he was clenching his teeth in frustration. "I'll send some money to pay for it all," she added quickly.

"That won't be necessary," Hawke said as he looked over the list. "What are you planning to fix?"

"Canadian Cheese Soup," Cassie replied. "Which reminds me, I'm cooking for Dominic tonight so you might want to pick up something you're willing to eat as well."

String let out a snort and turned for the front door where he paused and watched Cassie walked over to her tackle box and removed a blood pressure cuff, stethoscope and the small notebook and pen and walked into Dom's bedroom.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 A Second Father**

When String returned with the groceries, he found Cassie sitting on the couch with her craft box at her side. She looked up as he came in through the door and set her craft aside and followed him into the kitchen. She took the bag of ice he was carrying and moved over to the kitchen sink to make a new ice pack for Dominic. String set the rest of the groceries on the table behind her and started pulling items out of the bags and proceeded to put them away.

As Cassie turned to take the ice pack to Dominic, she saw what he was doing and said , "I will be using most of that stuff, so there is no need to put it away."

She left the room for a few minutes and when she returned, she started going through Dominic's cupboards and drawers and pulling out a pot and knifes and other cooking tools and set to work.

String finished putting away the items he had purchased for himself and then leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Cassie work.

"How is Dom?" he asked.

"Good. He is resting."

After another span of silence, String asked, "Is there anything I can help with?"

Cassie looked up from her work and pointed to the carrots and onions. "You can chop up the onion and peel and slice the carrots."

String stepped over and picked up the onions and carrots and carried them over to a cutting board. There he picked up a peeler and went to work peeling the carrots. They both continued to work together with little conversation between them, yet the time was not strained or uncomfortable for either. Soon Cassie had the soup cooking on the stove and had gone too check on Dom again. Then she returned to the couch and her needlework, or her "stitching," as she called it.

String was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room reading a book. When Cassie came in he dropped the book and watched her work for a while. Finally he asked, "What are you making?"

"They are called Grannies quilt squares," she explained. She handed him the pattern book from her lap so he could see the finished project.

Again another span of silence, then he asked, "What do you do with them when you're finished?"

Cassie shrugged her shoulders and said, "I mostly give them away."

String chuckled. "That's a lot of work to just give away."

Cassie looked up from her work and considered String for a moment. "I enjoy making them. It helps me unwind. Since I don't have a place of my own to display them, I give them to someone who does." She looked down and took a few more stitches before adding, "This is my sanity. Whenever I'm frustrated or mad, I can sit down and work on my stitching and relax."

String nodded at her explanation and turned back to his book.

Throughout the rest of the day, Cassie worked on her stitching and checked on Dominic at regular intervals. That evening, Cassie encouraged Dom to get up and come to the table to eat dinner with them. Dom joined them at the table and watched as Cassie carried in two bowls of soup. She set one bowl in front of Dominic and the other in front of herself. Dom noticed that String was eating a different meal. Dom tasted the soup, "Not bad Cassie. String you otta try some."

String offered one of his lopsided grins and said, "No thanks."

"String, why don't you grab me a beer out of the refrigerator?"

String started to stand when Cassie said, "No!" Alcohol and your pain medication do not mix well. In fact alcohol and head injuries don't mix well either."

"I'm doing just fine I don't need you to tell me what I can and can't do." Dominic grumbled.

String looked from Dominic to Cassie wondering if there was really complications associated with alcohol or was she just trying to avoid alcohol consumption while she was present. Finally he decided that Cassie would not make up and excuse for him not drink a beer. If she was uncomfortable with them drinking beer with their meal she would have politely ask them to drink something else, as she had done in the past. "I think you otta listen to her Dom. She sure knew what she was doing when she helped you after your fall."

With that Dominic stood up grumbling and turned too walked back to his bed.

Both Cassie and Hawke stood to follow him, but Dom protested, "I'm not an invalid, I can do this myself." He continued to the bedroom grumbling all the way about not needing a mother hen and other such comments.

Both String and Cassie sat back down to the table and watched him disappear into his room. Then, as if on cue, they both started to giggle.

"I would say he is feeling better," Cassie mused.

"Yep, he'll live." String replied. Then he said, "You're really concerned about him. I didn't know you were that close to Dom."

Cassie looked at Hawke, "In a way he has been like a second father to me," she responded. Then she continued to look at Hawke and wondered if she needed to say more, but decided that she really didn't want to say any more.

They both returned to their meal and their silence. When they were almost done eating, String asked, "Why did you become an EMT?"

"Following in my parents' foot steps," Cassie answered.

"Both of them are EMT's?" String asked.

"Yes!" she answered. After a pause she continued. "My Dad was the local Fire Chief for the small town I grew up in. Then when the community decided that they needed to have an ambulance and emergency personnel on hand, he was among the first to sign up and take the training. He felt that having his EMT training would be a good asset to go with his fire chief responsibilities," Cassie finished.

"And your Mom too?" String asked.

"No my Mom decided to get her certification later. She told me that by becoming an EMT, she was able to spend more time with my Dad, even if it was on ambulance runs."

"So, have you worked with an ambulance?" String asked.

"My, you're full of questions tonight," Cassie said.

Sting gave her one of his half smiles. "I have leaned some interesting things about you today and I find I want to learn some more," he admitted.

"Yes, I worked on an ambulance after I finished my training," Cassie said. "I was just 18 years old at the time and not very sure of myself, so I didn't push to continue to work on an ambulance after I moved on."

"But your tackle box." String pointed to where it sat on the floor. "Why do you keep that around?"

"Because, I know how to use all the equipment in it." Then she gave him an impish grin. "And when one works with kids, big or small, it comes in handy." With that Cassie stood and started cleaning off the table.

"Do you encounter many incidents where you can use it the way you did today?" Hawke continued to inquire.

"No," Cassie chuckled, "Most of the time I just use it for bumps and scrapes."

After the kitchen was cleaned up and the leftovers stored into the refrigerator, both Cassie and String returned to the living room. Cassie returned to the couch and picked up her stitching and Hawke returned back to the easy chair and picked up his book, but he didn't open it. Instead he sat and watched Cassie and the stitching she was doing.

After a while Cassie realized that String was staring at her. She was unsure what she should do or say so she turned her attention back to her stitching and tried to ignore him. But she found it was hard to concentrate on her work with him staring at her, so she decided to stare back. It didn't take long before he looked away.

"Tell me something about yourself," Cassie asked him.

"I like to fly," Hawke said.

"Tell me something I don't know," Cassie said as she rolled her eyes.

"I play the cello."

"What kind of music do you play?"

"Classical and the blues mostly."

Cassie waited to see if he was going to volunteer any more information, but she was only rewarded with silence. For the first time that evening the silence had became uncomfortable. Cassie picked up her stitching again and tried to ignore the tension that hung in the air. She made several mistakes and had to undo those stitches more then once. Finally she put her stitching back into the box and put the lid on it. Then she stood and retrieved her blood pressure cuff and stethoscope and went into Dominic's room.

Cassie gently touched Dom's arm to let him know that she was there and then she sat down on the bed to take his blood pressure and pulse. Dom started to grumble about all the interruptions.

After Cassie had finished taking his vital signs and asking him questions to confirm his coherence, she was pretty sure that Dom's care would no longer require her medical training and concluded it was time for her to leave.

"String, could you come in here please?"

When String approached the room, Dom was grumbling about being disturbed and not needing a mother hen. As he stepped into the doorway he stopped and leaned against the doorframe.

"Well Dom," Cassie said. "You seem to be recovering well and as you have pointed out, my care for you has becoming bothersome. . . . "

"Hey I didn't . . .," Dom started to protest but Cassie put her finger to his lips to silence him.

"Let's put it this way," Cassie said. "You are healthy enough that you no longer need me sticking around to monitor your vitals. However, I want to give you both some instructions before I leave."

She looked back and forth at both men to assure that they were listening. "First and most important," Cassie said in a stern tone. "If Dominic should become dizzy, light headed, develop an upset stomach or become confused, he needs to be taken back to the emergency room." She turned to look Dominic in the eye and continued. "This is not a wait and see how things go. These are signs of bleeding or swelling in the brain." She turned back to Hawke., "Do you understand?"

Hawke nodded his head to indicate he understood.

"Second," Cassie continued as she turned too looked at Dominic. "You need to take your pain medication every 4 hours, at least for the first 24 hours after your injury." Cassie could see that Dominic was gathering steam to protest, but she held up her finger to signal him to let her finish. "If you wait until you start hurting, then it will take more medication to get it under control again. Also," Cassie continued, "Pain medication and any alcoholic drinks do not mix." She paused to make sure that both men understood her and then added for good measure, "Please, don't ingest one while under the influence of the other."

Both men nodded their understanding.

With that said she leaned forward and kissed Dominic on the forehead. "Take care of yourself," she added as she stood.

Then she walked passed Hawke and into the living room. Hawke turned to follow her.

"It seems that your first thoughts about Dominic being okay were true," Hawke said, a little irritated about not being up at the cabin with Dominic.

Cassie turned towards Hawke and saw the irritation in his eyes. "I'm going to share with you one of the first lessons I learned in my EMT Training." She paused to make sure he was willing to listen then continued. "When working with a potential victim, an EMT must always assume the worst and treat for that assumption."

Hawke made no attempt to comment and Cassie continued by asking, "Do you know what that means?"

Hawke's face flashed a look of confusion and Cassie explained. "When one assumes it makes an ass of you and me."

Hawke furrowed his forehead. He didn't like being referred to as an ass.

Cassie got the response she was hoping for. Laughing, she turned and picked up her note pad that she kept in her jumpy and wrote, "Ass-U-Me." She then ripped that page out and handed it to him, as she continued to explain. "By always assuming the worst, you are sure to protect any possible injury or illness, but most of the time when you get the patient to the medical profession you find that you have over reacted. Thereby making an ass out of the EMT and the patient." Cassie paused to see if Hawke had a comeback for the explanation she just offered. But as usual Hawke said nothing.

As Cassie turned to gather up her craft box and the jumpy from the couch, she said, "I would rather be an ass then risk the health or life of a good friend."

Cassie looked at Hawke's face and noticed a softening of his facial features and realized that he had accepted her explanation. Then she said, "Please keep an eye on him until at least noon tomorrow."

String nodded to acknowledge her request.

"Good night," Cassie said. Then she walked out the door and closed it behind her.

Hawke moved over to the window to watch Cassie as she put her stuff into the back seat of her car and climbed into the driver's seat and drive off.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 Death**

Two weeks later:

Dominic was back at work the day after his fall. String was there everyday to keep an eye on him and to help out even if Dom kept grumbling about the fact that he didn't need any help. Though he did enjoy have String around more.

It had been two weeks since Dominic had fallen. That morning they were working in the hangar with the radio playing. A news report came on announcing a gruesome murder at the home of Greg Erickson. That name registered in Hawke's mind first.

"Hey Dom," he called out. "What is the name of the family Cassie is working for?"

Dom stopped what he was working on and looked at String. "Erickson."

Hawke asked, "Greg Erickson?"

Dominic nodded his head, realizing the connection String was implying. "I have a bad feeling about this Dom," Hawke said as he moved toward the hangar door.

"I agree," Dom said, as he fallowed behind him.

They climbed into Dominic's red, white and blue Jeep and drove over to the house where Cassie was staying. When they arrived, they found police all around going about their business. Hawke walked up to one of the policemen and asked, "What about their nanny, was she killed as well?"

The policeman pointed out the lead detective and said, "I don't know, but he would."

Both men walked over to the detective and inquired again, "Was the Nanny killed as well?"

The officer turned and replied, "We were not aware that the Ericksons' had a Nanny. Do you know what her name is?" he asked as he pulling out a small notebook and pen.

Dominic looked at String and said, "Cassie Terry."

"Did you find a second adult female body inside?" String asked,

"No," the detective answered.

Dominic let out a sign of relief, while Hawke continued to ask the detective more questions in an effort to find out where Cassie might be.

Dominic stood listening to the two men talk when he saw Cassie stepping out of a cab that had just pulled up. Dominic turned and headed towards her.

Hawke noticed Dom leaving and looked over to see where he was going. When he saw Cassie paying the cab driver, he quickly turned and followed Dominic. And the Detective followed right behind both of them.

When Dominic reached Cassie he pulled her into his arms for a quick hug and asked, "Are you alright?"

Before she could answer him, the Detective asked, "Are you Cassie Terry, the Erickson's nanny?"

Cassie nodded, as she turned and looked at the house.

"Where were you around 11:00pm last night?" He asked.

"I was staying at the Motel 6 on Beck St.," she told him. "Is the whole family dead?"

The detective answered, "Yes."

"Even the children?" Cassie asked, her eyes scanning the house behind the detective, stopping on the windows of the house where the children's bedrooms were.

"Yes, even the children," the detective confirmed in a sad tone. "I need to ask you a few more questions."

Cassie's head was starting to spin and fog over. _Not now_, she told herself even as she nodded her approval to the detective and answered, "Okay. But let me sit down first."

She knew that she needed to sit down so she could regain control or she would pass out and she wanted to avoid that. She scanned the yard for a likely place to sit. Her eyes stopped on a low retaining wall by the driveway. As she turned to move in that direction, her vision blurred and her knees buckled underneath her. Hawke saw her start to fall and ran to catch her, but was only able to grab her arm and slow her descent to the lawn.

When Cassie became aware of her surrounding again, she was lying on the grass in front of the Erickson's home. Both Dominic and Hawke were kneeling beside her and the detective stood behind them watching.

"Hey, Cassie honey, are you alright?" Dom questioned her.

Cassie felt stupid for fainting. She sat up and turned her face away from their searching eyes, to hide the tears that had started rolling down her face. She didn't want to cry and she struggled with her emotions trying her hardest to keep the tears at bay. But the battle was lost and she gave in and crying openly.

"Oh, Cassie," Dominic said, as he reached out and pulled her into his arms, in a fatherly hug. As his arms closed around her, Cassie totally disintegrated into a crying fit. Dominic continued to hold her and stroke her back, until she calmed down and her crying turned to gentle sobs.

The Detective bent down and asked, "Could you answer those questions for me now?"

Hawke started to protest, feeling a little defensive due to everything Cassie was struggling to deal with but Cassie nodded her head and sobbed, "Yes."

The Detective proceeded with his questioning. "Why were you in a motel room last night instead here at the Erickson's home?"

Cassie again turned her eyes towards the house where she had lived for the past seven months and answered. "I quit yesterday after noon."

A look of astonishment filled Dominic's face.

"Why did you quit?" The detective continued to question her.

She turned her gaze back to the detective and answered, "Because she called me a liar." There was no mistaking the anger in her voice.

"Are you referring to Mrs. Erickson?" he asked.

Cassie nodded, as she looked back at Dominic. His face now showed contempt for the women who had constantly made life a struggle for Cassie.

"And you quit because she called you a liar?" The detective continued to pursue his line of questioning.

"Let's just say it was the straw that broke the camel's back." Cassie said as she let out a large breath in an effort to regain full control of her emotions.

"If I understand what you are telling me," The detective reasoned, "you didn't have a very good relationship with the Erickson's."

"Mrs. Erickson and I didn't," Cassie spoke with finality in her voice. Then she added, "I didn't see much of Mr. Erickson."

"What about the children?" the Detective asked.

Cassie turned to look at the Detective and answered, "I loved the children." Then a new burst of emotions struggled to overthrow her will. Cassie felt the need to add, "They were spoiled and hard to work with some times but I really cared about their well being." Dominic reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder.

The Detective looked Cassie straight in the eye and asked, "Do you know anyone who would want to kill the Erickson Family?"

Cassie stopped to think for a moment, then replied, "I didn't get to meet many of the people the Erickson's socialized with." Then she added, "I was to stay in the back ground or in my room." Then she added, with contempt in her voice, "If I was allowed to be among their friends and acquaintances, it was merely to serve them, not to visit with them."

The Detective asked Cassie a few more questions and then asked, "Where can we reach you if we have any more questions?"

"At the motel . . .," Cassie began to tell him.

Dominic interrupted saying, "She will be staying with me."

"Thanks, Dom," Cassie said, "But I'll be fine at the motel."

"I know," Dom replied, "but even big girls need a helping hand sometimes." With that he stood and held out his hand towards Cassie. She took it and he helped her up.

The detective took down Dominic's address and the phone numbers for both his apartment and the hangar. Then he turned to Cassie and said, "You're not to leave town." Then he added, "We will be keeping in contact."

Cassie turned to look at the Erickson's home again and a shudder ran through her body. "_I could have been one of the dead_." she told herself wondering why she was so lucky, not to have been there last night.

Dominic gently turned her away from the house and said, "Come on Cassie, let's go get your stuff." Dominic gently guided her over to his jeep and helped her climb into the back seat while Hawke settled in behind the steering wheel. They drove off to the motel where Cassie had stayed the night.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Earlier that day, inside the lavish home of Carmichael Damascus, Mr. Damascus was having a heated discussion with his henchmen Stockholm and Kensington.

"What do you mean you don't have the ledger?" Mr. Damascus demanded.

"It wasn't there," Kensington tried to explain. "We tore the house to pieces looking for it."

With an evil look of satisfaction, Stockholm said, "We finally persuaded him to tell us where he hid it." The smile on his face grew as he said, "He told us that the nanny has it."

"Well then where's the nanny?" Damascus demanded.

"We don't know," Kensington answered quickly, "She wasn't there."

Damascus turned to Stockholm, "Well then find her and quickly, before she gets that ledger to the cops."

"Don't worry Mr. Damascus," Kensington assured him as the two men turned and walked out the door.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

An hour later Kensington and Stockholm were milling around in the crowd, gathered outside the Erickson's home trying to find out where the Nanny might be or if she had returned.

As Stockholm was moving around asking questions, he saw a red, white and blue jeep pull up, with a Santini Air logo on it's the side. He watched as two men got out and started inquiring about a nanny.

Stockholm signaled Kensington to move over towards him as he eavesdropped on the conversation between the policemen and two new arrivals. As soon as they confirmed that they were looking for the nanny as well, a cab pulled up and a young lady got out. When the two men from the jeep and the detective moved over to where she stood, they worked their way over as well. They overheard her telling the detective where she had spent the night. With that, both men quickly hurried over to their car and drove off.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

** More Surprises**

String pulled the Jeep into the parking lot of the motel. Cassie pointed out which room she was staying in and he pulled up in front of the room. As he climbed out of the Jeep he noticed that the door was open a jar and he froze.

"Stop." he called out quietly.

Dominic looked at String and followed his gaze to the door. "Did you leave your door unlocked?" he asked Cassie.

"No," Cassie replied.

"Stay in the Jeep," Dominic told her.

"And stay low," Hawke added.

Both men quietly approached the door, one on the left and the other on the right. Then String reached out and pushed the door open. Both men peered around the doorframe, into the room. After assuring that the coast was clear Hawke slowly stepped into the room. It was a shambles. Cassie's belongings were strewn all over the place. String continued on into the room with Dominic at his heals. Strings head jerked toward the bathroom, hearing a noise coming from behind the closed bathroom door. Hawke quickly moved over to the door and opened it, bursting into the room, just in time to see two men running away through the opened window.

Dominic walked back through the room and waved to Cassie, indicating it was safe for her to come in.

Cassie wanted to cry when she saw the mess. All her clothing had been dumped out of her suitcase, and the items in her trunk had all been removed and tossed aside. Even her jumpy was upside down with its contents dispersed on the floor.

She scanned the room looking over the mess. Then she realized she couldn't see her craft box and was worried that it had been taken. She started searching for it and found it under the bed. She remembered that she had stayed up late the night before working on her current project. She had been so mad a Mrs. Erickson that she had sat up working on her crafts until 2:00 that morning, and when she finally set it aside, she simply slid it under the bed where it was out of sight.

"They were looking for something," String stated.

"Do you think it has something to do with the murders?" Cassie asked.

Dom replied, "Probably." Then he looked at String and said, "We had better call the police. They need to know about this."

String nodded in reply.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Police showed up quickly and started their investigation. It didn't take long for them to realize there was a connection with the Erickson murders and they summoned the Detective in charge of the investigation at the Erickson's home.

As soon as he stepped out of his car, the Detective walked straight to Cassie and asked, "Do you know what the perpetrators were looking for?"

"No."

"Did the Ericksons give you any thing that could be important to this case?"

Cassie looked the Detective in the eye, feeling a little more then irritated at him. "They gave me a yellow pants outfit and a unicorn made out of wool for my birthday." She snapped at him, "Do you want them?"

"Yes, I would like to take a look at the unicorn," He answered in a professional tone ignoring the irritation in Cassie's voice.

Cassie looked down at the mess strewn all over the floor and located both the unicorn and the yellow outfit. She bent over, picked them up, walked over and handed them to the detective. "Here keep them." With that she turned and headed for the door, "Let me know when you're done so I can clean up this mess and get out of here."

Cassie walked over to the jeep and claimed into the back seat and tried to hide the tears that were again streaming down her face.

Dom walked up to the jeep and asked Cassie, "You going to be alright?"

String walked to the other side of the jeep and leaned his backside against the hood of the jeep with his arms folded, wearing his sunglasses and giving everyone his stone-faced look.

Cassie sniffed and took a deep breath to help control her emotions. "I just need to get something to eat." She didn't know what else to say. But at the back of her mind she knew that it was going to take a lot more then breakfast before she was going to be fine with the world again.

Dominic's eyes popped open with a big smile on he's face. "Then let go get you something to eat," he suggested as he looked over at String and asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I could eat something," Hawke replied.

"Great!" Dominic stated, as he climbed into the jeep, "What sounds good to you?"

"Any thing would be fine," Cassie answered, knowing that she wasn't really interested in eating at the moment.

Hawke grabbed the attention of the closest officers and told him that they were leaving to get a bite to eat and would be back before too long. Then without giving him an opportunity to protest, he started the jeep and drove off.

The three were sitting at a table inside a local McDonalds. It was the first place they found open. Hawke had ordered a coffee, and Dominic had ordered a breakfast biscuit for both him and Cassie along with some milk. Cassie was pulling off small bits of the bread and eating them slowly while she let her mind wander.

"Hay Cassie," Dom spoke with a cheerful tone in his voice. "Have you called your folks yet?"

Cassie was jolted back from her daze with a start. "What?" she asked, giving Dominic her full attention.

"Have you called your folk?" he asked again with a cheery look on his face.

Cassie looked down at her hands and replied, "NO."

"Well then as soon as we get back to the hangar we'll do that," he said trying to sound upbeat.

Cassie continued to look down at her hands and responded, "I can't do that Dom."

Dominic paused a moment trying to figure out what was preventing her from calling her parents.

"Now Cassie," Dom countered, thinking he knew what the problem might be, "You haven't done anything wrong." He reached out and patted her hand, "There is no reason that you can't call and tell your parents about what's happened. I'm sure they would want to know and help."

Cassie could feel her emotions well up again. She took a deep breath and blurted out, "Dom, both of my parents are dead!"

The smile on Dom face vanished and Hawke jerked his head around to look at Cassie. Both faces carried a look of confusion.

"When?" Hawke barked, gruffness in his voice.

"Seven years ago," Cassie replied, feeling more fatigued then she had felt only moments ago. Knowing what the next question would be, she added, "My whole family was killed in a car accident when I was sixteen years old."

Cassie then turned and looked away from the two men. This was the last thing she wanted to talk about right now.

Dom started sputtering not sure what to say or do next.

Hawke however had no lack of a voice or questions for her. "Why have you been letting us believe that your parents were still alive?" he asked with a stern face.

Cassie didn't look back at the two men, but quietly replied, "Because life is so much easier for me when my parents are still alive." She took a shuddering breath and continued to explain. "By referring to them as if they were still around I feel like I'm not alone in the world." She looked at Dominic in hopes that he would understand what she was trying to explain to them. "Their words of instruction and guidance and their love are always there when I need them, and I don't have to feel so vulnerable and alone." Though she had to admin it wasn't helping at that moment.

That was the last thing Hawke had expected to hear. Though it seemed that he and Cassie had this one thing in common, both having lost their parents at a young age. Both dealt with that loss completely different. He had become bitter about the deaths in his life, where she used the living memory of her family and her past to strengthen her.

They, all three, sat there in silence not sure what to say or do next. Finally Cassie turned and looked at both men and suggested it was time to return to the motel and see if they could gather up her belongings and move on.

When they arrived back at the motel the police where wrapping up their investigation and they told Cassie that she could start gathering her clothing. They instructed her to tell them if she noticed anything missing or something that was not supposed to be there.

Cassie asked both Dominic and Hawke to stay outside. She wanted to work alone and allowed her mind to only think about the act of picking up and refolding her clothing and putting it in her suitcase. When that was done, she was allowed to pick up the rest of her items that had been scattered. It took her about an hour to get everything put back where it belonged, before she had to face this current reality that she found herself in.

She came out of the motel room, her purse slung over her shoulder, her tackle box in one hand and her craft box tucked under the other arm. She put the craft box and tackle box in the small back seat of the jeep and then climbed in to sit next to them. String and Dominic both stepped inside the motel room and grabbed her trunk and suitcase and loaded them into the back of the jeep. They drove off in silence, though this silence was not a peaceful one. There were too many questions that Hawke and Dominic wanted to ask and explanations Cassie did not want to share.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

** Archangel**

As String turned the corner, bringing Santini Air in to full view, he slowed their approach. He saw a white limo in front of the hangar and standing next to it was Archangel, also known as Michael Coldsmith-Briggs III, who worked for, the FIRM a branch of the CIA, as the Deputy Director.

He was dressed in his usual pristine three-piece white suit. His one good, blue eye looking out from behind a pair of wire rimed glasses with the left lens covered with a black shield to hide the damage of his other eye. His hair was a well trimmed brown/blond and he was sporting a well-groomed mustache. Standing next to him, was his most trusted assistant Marella. Her copper skin, curly black hair and brown eyes stood out against the white dress she was wearing.

Dom looked up to see what had caused Hawke to slow down and muttered, "What does he want?"

Hawke turned to Dom and said, "Let's find out." Then he speed up the jeep. As they reached the hangar Michael stated, "It's about time."

"And a good afternoon to you too Michael," Dom exclaimed as he climbed out of the jeep.

Hawke remained seated and asked, "What do you want Michael?"

Michael looked past Hawke to the young woman sitting in the back of the Jeep and said, "I need to talk to Miss Terry."

At the mention of her name Cassie pulled her thoughts to the present conversation and look up at man in front of her, all dressed in white. She leaned forward and whispered into Hawke's ear, "Who is this man?"

Hawke replied so all could here, "Michael is many things, but I don't think he is a threat to you." He paused then added, "At least not today."

"Thank you," Michael said to Hawke, and then added, "I think."

Hawke climbed out of the jeep, offered Cassie his hand and helped her climb out of the back seat.

"So who are you," Cassie demanded of Michael, "and what do you want with me?"

"We need to ask some questions about the Ericksons murders," Marella said, as she stepped to Michael's side

Cassie sighed, and asked, "Why?"

"Yeah. Why, Michael?" Hawke demanded.

Michael looked at Hawke and then back to Cassie. "Our information tells us that Mr. Erickson was working with a man by the name of Carmichael Damascus, a man very high up with the local mob."

Cassie's mouth dropped open as she looked from Michael to Dominic, trying to understand everything she was being told. _How had she managed to get herself involved in the middle of all this?_

Michael continued to offer a wider explanation. "Mr. Erickson was the President of the Bank of Comers and he was using his position to launder money for Mr. Damascus." He paused to watch for any reaction on Cassie's face from the information he had given her. "We also have reason to believe that Mr. Erickson had taken his services to the next level and was trying to blackmail Mr. Damascus."

"So," Hawke said, coming to the logical solution, "The Mob decided that the Ericksons were no longer of use."

Cassie's mind was swimming with all the new information that she was had been bombarded with. "What does any of this have to do with me?" she asked as she turned and looked at String and Dominic, with a pleading look in her eyes. "I didn't know any of this was going on." She turned back to Michael, "I took care of the children and cleaned the house." She paused as she turned to look to Marella, and said, "I can't give you any information that will be of any help." She was felling trapped without understanding how or why.

Dominic walked over to Cassie and put his arm around her to offer some comfort and said, "Its okay Cassie." Then he turned to Michael and asked, "Can't this wait until later?"

"I wish it could," Michael said with sympathy, as he looked at Dominic and Cassie. "But our information tells us that Mr. Erickson had a ledger and a list of Swiss bank accounts numbers. If we could get our hands on that information we could take Damascus out of action."

"And maybe some others he's involved with," Marella added.

Michael turned to Hawke and said, "We have information that leads us to believe that it is still out there somewear."

"So that's what they were looking for," Dominic said, looking over to Hawke.

This tidbit of information was not lost on Michael and he commented, "We were aware someone had searched through Cassie's belongings. Was there anything missing?"

"We don't know Michael," Hawke answered. "All we do know is two thugs went through Cassie's belonging at her motel room."

"And?" Michael pressed.

"And what?" Hawke challenged back. "Cassie doesn't know what it is they're looking for."

"Therefore, Michael," Dominic joined in, "She wouldn't know if they had retrieved anything or not."

"I understand," Michael said. He turned his attention to Cassie, "All I want to do is ask you a few more questions. That might help us all get to some answers."

Dom looked at Cassie to see how she was dealing with this newfound confrontation. "It's up to you Cassie," Dom said calmly. "Are you up to a few more questions today?"

Cassie raised her head and took a deep breath and said, "Let's get this over with." Then she turned and started walking toward the hangar door. "But, this time I will do it sitting down." She didn't know what questions Michael was going to ask her or what emotions would be dragged back up in the asking. But she knew one thing, she was going to be more prepared and in better control of her faculties this time around.

After Cassie was seated at Dom's work desk, Michael sat on the corner of the deck and started to ask questions. "Cassie did you notice anything strange going on around the Erickson's home during the past couple of weeks?"

Cassie took a few moments to think, and answered, "Not really."

"Tell us about Mr. Erickson. Were you aware of any changes in his behavior?" Michael asked.

"I didn't see much of Mr. Erickson. He was gone from the home most of the time."

"What about his demeanor?" Michael asked. "When he was around, was it always the same?"

Cassie paused to consider the last question. When she spoke it was as if she was talking more to herself then the others. "Mr. Erickson was always nice to me." She looked up at Dominic with a sliver of a smile on her face. "He even liked eating the food I cooked." Then the smile vanished as she continued to ponder on Mr. Erickson's habits. "I didn't see him very much this past two weeks." Then her expressions changed to indicate there was something. "He was home early yesterday," she said. "I remember thinking he was going to chew me out for quitting they way I did."

Marella queried, "You quit yesterday?"

"Yes," Cassie sighed. "Mrs. Erickson finally pushed me too far."

"In what way?" Marella inquired.

Cassie looked at all the faces watching her. Then she concentrated her stare at Hawke and said, "I'm only explaining what happened. Not complaining."

Hawke turned away for a moment. He knew what Cassie was referring to and felt a little guilty for harassing her the other day when she had brought dinner to the hangar.

"Yesterday, Mrs. Erickson had some guests over. A lady friend and her two boys," Cassie began explaining.

"What were their names?" Marella asked.

"I'm terrible with names," Cassie said as she shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"Anyway," Cassie continued. "All four of the kids were outside playing in the swimming pool, and Mrs. Erickson asked me to watch over them for a little while. She and her friend were doing something inside."

"Do you know what they were doing while you were outside?" Michael broke into the conversation again.

"No!" Cassie said, clearly feeling irritated at the man's many interruptions. She was tired and wanted to just get this over with. Every time she was interrupted, meant more questions needing answers. "I was outside at the time. And I don't put my nose in were it doesn't belong." She glared at Michael. "Beside I could care less what Mrs. Erickson does."

"Please continue," Marella gently encouraged.

"I was outside watching the kids swim. The older boys were jumping off the diving board and little Tiffany, she's 3, decided that she wanted to jump off the diving board too. She's just learning to swim," Cassie explained, "and I didn't want her to jump into the deep water with out someone in the pool to back her up. I wasn't even wearing a swimming suit." Cassie took a deep breath and sighed, "But she did it anyhow. I went to help her out of the water, but she turned away and swam back into the deep water. Then she started struggling to keep her head above the water, so I dived in and pulled her out."

Cassie could see the four faces watching her couldn't see how this story would lead her to quit. She sighed again and stated. "Look, to make a long story short, Mrs. Ericson saw me outside dripping wet and asked if one of the boys had pushed me in. I quickly told her no, and explained that I had to go into pool to rescue her daughter."

Cassie face turned red with anger. "That woman looked me right in the eye and called me a liar. She said, 'My Daughter can swim. She doesn't need you to save her.'"

Cassie stood up and threw her hands in the air and began passing the floor. "That was the last straw." she said with finality. "I wasn't going to put up with her crap any more. I looked that women straight in her face and told her, 'I quit.'" Then with a smile on her face she continued. "I walked straight to my room, in my dripping wet clothing, and busied myself with packing my belongings. Then I called a cab." She turned and looked at Michael and said, "I got out of there as soon as I could."

"I don't know why you stayed as long as you did," Dominic commented, resting his hand on Cassie's shoulder to stop her pacing.

Cassie looked at Dom with appreciation. Of all the people in that room, Dom was the only one who truly knew of all the hard times Cassie had put up with in the past. And he had been the only one Cassie could talk to, about her frustrations.

Dom smiled and quietly added, "It's about time you know."

Cassie gave him a little nod and turned back to Michael, "Where was I?" she asked.

"Go back to where you were talking about Mr. Erickson's behavior as you were leaving," Archangel directed.

"Okay," Cassie turned her thoughts back to Mr. Erickson. "He was preoccupied with something," she said. "He wasn't happy that I was leaving and he asked me if I would reconsider. I told him I was done. After that he didn't press me any further to stay. In fact he even helped carry some of my stuff out to the cab."

Cassie shook her head, thinking back at his request to stay, "There was no way I would have stayed a minute longer in that house."

Cassie's head bowed as she recalled what had taken place that night and continued quietly. "This morning I had the TV on in my motel room, mostly just for background noise." She smiled a little and explained, "It was too quiet. But then I heard on the news that the Erickson Family had been murdered." She raised her head to look at Michael, new tears sparkling in her eyes. "I had to go see for myself. I still can't believe its all true."

"Is there anything else you noticed?" Michael asked.

"No, not really," Cassie replied. "I was preoccupied with gathering my stuff and getting out."

"Are you sure you don't know anything that could help us locate the documentation we mentioned?"

"Sorry," Cassie said. Then with an ironic chuckle she added, "I would be the last person the Ericksons would have trusted with any important or personal information."

"Well thank you for your time," Michael said as he dipped his head in her direction. Then looking at Hawke and Dominic he said, "I'll see you later."

Michael walked to the hangar door, with Marella just ahead of him. She opened the door for Michael, and stepped back as he passed her and stepped out the door, he was surprised to see two men digging around in the back of Dominic's jeep.

One of the men noticed Michael, pulled out a gun and shot at him.

Michael quickly ducked back in through the door and pulled out his own gun as Hawke did the same. They took up positions at the open door, Michael shooting high and Hawke shooting low, returning fire.

Both of the other men ran towards their car as they blindly returned fire. The car sped off, as one of the men continued to lay down gunfire to cover their get-away.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Protection**

Everyone was standing next to Dominic's jeep looking down at the mess the two men had made while going through Cassie's belongings again.

Michael turned to Cassie and said, "My dear women, whether you have what they're looking for or not, I feel safe in saying that they think you have it and that puts you in danger."

"Michael's right Cassie," Hawke agreed.

Dominic agreed with the both of them, "We need to get you somewhere safe." He looked at Hawke "Let's take her up to your cabin."

With that statement, Cassie's face paled and she asked, "There's got to be some place else I can go."

Michael responded to her plea with a suggestion of one of the FIRM's safe houses.

Hawke confronted Michael and said, "I don't trust your safe houses."

Dom agreed and declared, "We will keep her safe tonight." He then pointed a finger at Michael and added, "You come up with a plan to clear up this problem."

At that moment, Cassie had come to the full realization that her life was in real danger. When it came down to who she should trust more, she knew that her trust belonged with Dominic and Hawke. "I will stay with them." Cassie announced stepping in between her two friends.

Michael acquiesced and turned to Hawke. "I'll keep you up to date." Then he walked over to the limo where Marella stood holding the back door open for him. After closing the door and stepping to the front of the car, she got in, and drove off.

Cassie turned to Dominic and said, "Dom there's a little problem we need to work out."

"Oh?" Dom questioned, as he turned to look at her.

"I'm terrified of heights," she said with a little panic in her voice. "And helicopters go high."

"Don't worry, Cassie," Dom said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders trying to comfort her. "With me and String at the controls you'll be as safe as you were in your momma's tummy." Both men gave her a big smile in hopes of cheering her up a little.

Cassie was not that sure, but realized that both men had her best interests in mind. Having already committed her destiny in their hands, she didn't want to dwell on the thought of flying in a helicopter until she had too. She turned and looked at the back of the Jeep and the waiting mess that needed to be cleaned up, for a second time today. With a sigh, she moved to pick up some of the items that had fallen to the ground.

Both Dominic and String moved over to help, and this time Cassie decided that help would be welcomed. "Hawke, why don't you pull the trunk out of the jeep and I'll start putting things back into it." As String pulled out the trunk Cassie saw that her recipe box had been dumped out and the little recipe cards were all over the place. Again she found herself fighting back tears. She quickly berated herself. _Get a grip, you can deal with this._

She started gathering up the loose cards and roughly stuffed them back into the little box when Dominic asked, "So this is the secret to your good cooking?"

Cassie looked at Dom, willing herself not to cry. "These belonged to my mother." Cassie swallowed the lump that was working its way up her throat. "It's all I have of her, other then memories." Then she turned her attention back to gathering up the cards, this time putting them inside the box with greater care. It didn't take the three long to get her belongings gathered up and loaded into the helicopter.

Dom walked Cassie to the back door of the helicopter and opened it for her. Cassie hesitated. Then she turned to Dominic and asked, "Do you have any tranquilizers or maybe a blind fold?"

"It will be okay Cassie," Dom comforted her. "You can just keep your eyes closed and everything will be alright."

Cassie hesitated a moment longer, then she pulled herself into the back of the helicopter and strapped the seat beat around her as tight as she could get it. Hawke handed her a head set and said, "Put this on so we can keep in contact." Cassie did as she was told and then she closed her eyes and leaned back into the seat.

During their flight Hawke and Dominic told Cassie stories from their past and before she knew it they were landing on the dock in front of Hawke's cabin.

Cassie took a great sigh of relief. But when she reached over to unbuckle the seatbelt she found that her hands were shaking. She clinched both hands as tight as she could and then slowly opened them again and stretched them out. The shaking was not as bad and she was able to unbuckle the belt and climb out of the helicopter.

Once she was on the pathway to the cabin she stopped to take in the scenery, "This is beautiful!" she exclaimed.

As she looked at the trees and mountains and listened to the rustling of the leaves and the water lapping against the shore, she could feel some of the tension that had been building within her start to relax. She could feel a sense of calm in this mountain retreat. _It would be so nice to just stay here and forget about all the troubles and confusion that had entered into her world_.

All three walked up to the cabin together. String reached out and opened the door and offered Cassie to be the first one over the threshold.

As Cassie stepped forward and was greeted by a dog. She reached her hand out to it, so he could smell it and decide if this newcomer was okay to be admitted into his domain.

"His name is Tet," String said, as he pushed past her and set down her suitcase.

"'Well, hello, Tet," Cassie crooned in the mushy tone adults like to use on babies and animals, and scratched his ears.

Then she looked up and around the room. It was one big open room with a fireplace on her left and a small kitchen on her right. At the back of the room was a wet bar and above that there was a loft with a bed. The walls were covered with paintings and on the rock wall by the wet bar there were pictures of family and friends. She could feel a comfortable sense of home and love in this cabin, something that Cassie had not truly felt in a long time.

After they had finished unloading the rest of Cassie's belongings out of the helicopter, she asked, "If you don't mind, it's been a long day and I could definitely use a nap."

"You go right ahead," Dom encouraged her.

String pointed up at the loft and said, "Go ahead and lay down on the bed."

At first Cassie was grateful to lie down and rest. But then her mind drifted to all the terrible things that had been happening around her and she felt the tears start to well up again. She knew that this time she had to let them out, and she buried her face in the pillow and let them come. Cassie wasn't sure how long she cried, but a while later the peace and quiet of her surroundings joined with her fatigue and she fell asleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Dominic and String were chatting about all that had happened the past few weeks when they heard Cassie's muffled sobs coming from the loft.

"The poor kid," Dom said, with real concern in his voice.

String looked up to the loft area and simply said, "Yeah."

Dom then turned to String and said, "I have a couple of phone calls I need to make for that stunt we have coming up. I'm going to take the helicopter and head back. I'll see you two," he nodded his head towards the loft, "in the morning."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Carmichael Damascus was not a happy man. "What do you mean you haven't got it!" he raged at Stockholm and Kensington.

"Twice we went through her stuff, but were interrupted both times, Mr. Damascus," Kensington tried to explain.

"Why haven't you just grabbed the girl?" Damascus shouted at them.

"Mr. Erickson told us he had hid it in her stuff and that she didn't even know it was there," Kensington pointed out. "So we didn't think she would be able to give it to us."

"Mr. Erickson still owed her a pay check and thought she would come back to collect it, "Stockholm explained. "That way he could get it back from her."

"Did he also tell you where he hid it?" Damascus asked, as if the two men hadn't the brains to consider asking that question.

"Not exactly," Stockholm responded.

"He said it was in one of her boxes," Kensington butted in. "We thought that we could find it back at her hotel room without letting her or anyone helping her, know about it."

"Thanks to your bumbling," Damascus ranted as he paced the floor, "She and her friends know that you are looking for something." Damascus stopped his pacing and looked directly at the two men, "Do you know where she and her belongings are right now?"

"Probably still at Santini Air," Stockholm said.

"Then I need you two buffoons to go and get her and her belongings and bring it all back here as soon as possible," Damascus roared.

Both men turned to leave as Damascus added, "Don't come back empty handed again."


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Hawke's Blessings**

Cassie awoke to the smell of cooking fish. She rolled over and opened her eyes. At first she was confused, she didn't recognize her surroundings, but then the memories came flooding back. She was in Hawke's cabin up, in the mountains, where she would be safe.

Cassie laid there and listened for voices or disturbances but all she could hear was the quiet noises that indicated someone was cooking at a stove, no voices. She stood and moved over to the railing and looked down to see String cooking something at the stove. She turned to walk down the stairs, when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She was not expecting this and she jumped with surprise, only to realize it was Tet. He had been laying down somewhere in the loft without Cassie's notice.

String looked up from the stove. "I was beginning to think you were going to sleep clear through the night," he chided her with a small grin.

Cassie sat down on the steps and reached out and scratched Tet's ears and String turned back to the stove and his cooking.

Cassie stood and followed Tet down the stairs and asked, "Can I help with supper?"

"You can set the table," String told her pointing to the cupboard where the dishes were kept.

Cassie's eyes looked around the room. "Where's Dominic," she asked as she moved over to the cupboard.

"He had some things he needed to take care of back at the hangar," Hawke explained. "But he will be back in the morning."

Cassie wasn't sure that was a good thing, being alone out in the middle of nowhere with Stringfellow Hawke. All she knew about this man was the little Dominic hand told her and the slight amount of information she had been able to gleaned from observing him, which was a very little.

Cassie finished setting the table just in time for String to declare that dinner was ready.

"What would you like to drink?" He questioned as he carried a platter with the fish on it, to the table.

"What do you have to offer?" Cassie asked.

String began to run down a list of alcoholic beverages, but stopped when he saw Cassie's smile fade from her face.

"Water will be fine," she said in a quiet voice, picking up her glass from the table and walked to the sink to fill it with water. String followed behind her to fill his glass with water too. Then they both sat down at the table. String had also made a tossed salad to go with the fish he caught fresh from the lake, he'd told her.

They both dished up their plates and began eating in silence.

Out of the blue, String asked, "Would you tell me what happened to your family?"

Cassie put down her fork and looked at String for a long moment. "There isn't much to tell," she said while looking down at her hands. Then without any more prompting from String she said, "They were heading to Salt Lake City to do some back to school shopping when their car was hit by another car and they were driven off an embankment into a ravine." After a brief pause she added, "I was told they all died quickly."

"You weren't with them," String said. It was a statement not a question.

"I was supposed to be with them, but I had just started a new job working at the local supermarket and I couldn't get the time off. My Dad told me that it was very important to show the manager that I was, 'a good reliable hard worker.'" she said, dropping her voice to make it sound masculine. "So I stayed home and went to work."

Cassie stopped talking and picked up her fork and started breaking the fish on her plate into little pieces.

After a stretch of silence she looked up at String and watched for him to look up too. She wanted to look him in the eyes when she shared the next part of her story. When String lifted his face and looked at her she quietly said, "It was a drunk driver that hit them."

Suddenly, understanding came flooding in to Hawke's mind, "That's why you don't like alcoholic drinks," He exclaimed.

"Yes," Cassie answered.

They both returned to eating their meals in silence.

After they had finished eating and were clearing up the table, String reached over and touched Cassie on her arm. "I didn't know how rough you had things at the Erickson's." He paused then added, "I'm sorry."

Cassie looked at String and considered whether she wanted to say anything or not. She knew the apology was not because the Ericksons had given her a bad time, it was because he had given her a bad time about complaining. Finally Cassie chose to shrug her shoulders, since she really didn't want to talk about the Ericksons.

With the dishes washed and put away, Cassie walked out onto the porch and sat down on one of the benches and took in the surrounding. Moments later String came out with his cello in hand and sat down and proceeded to play.

A gentle smile came to Cassie's face as she closed her eyes and listened. The music was calming and she loved hearing him play. After a while she heard the screech of an eagle and opened her eyes to search the sky. Her eyes found the eagle flying overhead. She watched as it dipped and glided on the wind currents as String continued to play.

When String stopped playing, she turned towards him and said, "Thank you." Then she looked back out to the lake and the other surrounding and said, "You have many blessings, Stringfellow Hawke."

String didn't think of himself as blessed. His life was full of tragedies and sadness, not blessings.

Cassie could sense a change in String's demeanor and looked over at him. She was greeted with a stone face.

Cassie watched as Hawke stood, lifted his cello and walked into the cabin. She turned her eyes back out at the surroundings of this mountain top. This place was a piece of heaven and Cassie could see why someone would enjoy coming here, but from her conversations with Dominic, Cassie knew that this was not a weekend retreat. This was Hawke's home, his permanent place of residence.

Why does he want to be alone? Cassie didn't understand. Ever since her family had died, Cassie had been alone, even thou she had always told herself otherwise. She was not alone in the sense of not having anyone else around her, but alone in the world with no one to care or to comfort or to give her the love she had lost and tears came again to Cassie's eyes. Oh, she had friends, but they weren't close friends and they didn't keep in contact with her.

From Dominic, Cassie had learned that String had lost his parents at the age of 12 and that during the war his brother was listed M.I.A... Cassie considered this and thought even though Hawke had lost his brother during the war, he had still been there for him for many years before that. He also had Dominic, who cared and loved him like a son. And he had this cabin filled with all the memories of his had none of that. All that she possessed were the memories in her mind and a few precious belongings that were packed away in her trunk that sat inside the cabin.

Cassie again found herself drained and feeling more alone then she had in years. She couldn't even pull strength from her memories, as she had done in the past. With all that was happening to her and around her, all she felt was drained. And again, she was overcome with tears and emotions that threatened to engulf her.

- - - - - - - - -

About 30 minutes after String had walked back into the cabin, it began to get dark and there was a chill in the air. Hawke stepped out the door and down the steps to gather firewood from where he had stacked it against the cabin.

Cassie was still sitting on the bench where he had last seen her. With a quick glance he saw that her eyes were red and swollen with tears. She quickly looked away as he walked past, and continued on to the wood pile. He quickly gathered up an armload of wood and returned back into the cabin.

As he was kneeling in front of the fireplace, working to start the fire, he heard Cassie walk to the front door he had left opened.

"Do you have a sleeping bag?" She inquired.

"There are blankets in the window boxes," String called out over his shoulder while he worked on the fire.

He heard her walk over to the window and get a blanket, and then she walked back out the door.

After the fire was burning, Hawke walked to the doorway and saw Cassie lying in the wild grass in front of the cabin, wrapped in the blanket. Her hands were behind her head and she was staring up at the stars. String watched her for awhile, knowing she was having a rough time. Finally he decided that she could probably use some company to redirect her thoughts, to something other then what had been happening to her world, the last few days. He quickly grabbed a blanket for himself and went out to sit down near her.

The silence continued for a long while. String didn't know what to say. He was never very good at conversation. Then out of the blue Cassie's voice broke the silence.

"You don't think of yourself as blessed, do you?" She asked in a soft quiet voice. Her anguish had turned to anger.

_Why does she think that my life is blessed_? Hawke thought to himself as his anger started welling up in side him. Cassie of all people should be able to understand his losses. Finally String answered, "No."

There was more silence. Then Cassie turned her head and looked towards him. His face was only partially visible due to lights that shone from the cabin.

Again with the same low quiet voice Cassie asked, "Why do you fight so hard to be alone?"

String didn't answer. That was none of her business.

More time passed in silence, then again she spoke. This time there was no mistaking the anger in her words to him. "I lost every one that I loved at the age of 16." There was a short pause then she continued. "All in one day, I went from having a family that loved me to nothing." She paused again and took a deep breath. "My home was taken to pay creditors. I was sent to live with strangers, who could care less if I was dead or alive. She then rose up on one elbow looking directly at String. The light shining through the window allowed Hawke to see her eyes burning with anger and tears. She kept her voice low and continued. "Then I turned 18 and was sent out into the world to make a life for myself, alone." Cassie laid back down and gazed up at the stars. After a few more minuets of silence she spoke again, "You have Dominic, and this wonderful cabin to live in." She paused and he heard a stifled sob. "And each one loaded with blessing, yet you choose to dwell on what you have lost and not what you still have." With that Cassie rolled away from him. Finally with a bitter voice she spoke one last time. "I would trade places with you in an instant."

Hawke sat there in the wild grass next to this young woman, the silence thick in the air. Finally he came to the conclusion that nether one of them were benefiting from the other presence and stood. He took the blanket he had around him and laid it over Cassie and walked back into the cabin.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Hostage**

Later that night, Cassie woke up cold and alone. She got up, pulled both blankets tighter around her and walked into the cabin. After closing the door she paused to look around the room. It was dark but she could make her way to the fire and the couch that sat close by. It was quiet except for a popping noise that came from the remaining embers in the fireplace. She laid the blankets on the couch and went to the fire, stoked it and added another log to the newly awaked embers.

She stood there in front of the fire shivering as the fire began to warm her. Then she heard movement up in the loft. She looked up and saw the shadow of a man standing at the railing. She watched for a moment then moved over to the couch, where she picked up the blankets wrapped them around her again and lay down on the couch. She watched the flames of the fire wrap around the log she had added to the fire until she fell back to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - -

String heard Cassie come in and fumble around the room. He heard her stoking the fire, then silence. String had not been sleeping. He couldn't sleep with all the things Cassie had said bombarding his mind. He got out of bed, walked over to the railing of the loft and looked down at Cassie. She turned and looked up at him for a moment then quickly turned away and lay down on the couch.

Though String didn't want to admit she was right, he knew that she was right and that he had been ignoring blessings he possessed. Cassie had lost it all and yet she was not hiding from the world. She made new friends, and trusted people she didn't know. She was trying to make a happy life for herself by dwelling on the positive, not the negative.

String looked around the dark room. Though he couldn't see everything clearly his mind could recall each of the paintings that were there on the walls. These brought back memories of his Grandfather, who had built this cabin and bought the pictures for his Grandmother. Then his mind drifted to all the happy memories that filled the cabin. Times he had spent there with family began running trough his mind. Then those memories turned to a time when it was just him, Saint John and Dominic, his father's best friend, who had taken both him and Saint John in under his wing. Dominic, who had taught them to fly and raised them to manhood, and it was Dominic who was still there for him now.

String knew Cassie was right, but it was not easy to step out of the protective shell he had spent years building and fortifying. Outside that shell there was so much pain; pain he didn't want to let back in. He turned back to his bed and laid down hoping that sleep would come.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Cassie was awakened by the sound of a helicopter landing out on the pier. She opened her eyes and turned to sit up. She was rewarded with the warm muzzle and cold nose of Tet. "Good morning," she whispered to the dog while scratching his ears and rubbing his back. "That must be Dominic," she told the dog. She looked around to see if String had heard the helicopter too.

She saw String dressed and walking down the stairs from the loft. His face still held the rock hard poker face she had seen the night before. He walked past her without acknowledging her presence and on out the door, leaving it opened.

Cassie turned back to Tet and quietly said, "I think I've worn out my welcome."

Cassie stood up and folded the blankets she had used, then she moved over to the window to return them to the window boxes. While doing so she looked out the window and realized that it was not Dominic who had landed, it was Michael and Marella.

String was standing on the front porch waiting for them to come to him. "What have you found out," String asked when their approach was close enough for him to call out too them.

Michael didn't respond until he had reached the porch. "We have a problem." He said in a grave voice, and handed Hawke an opened envelop. "Damascus has Dominic. I stopped by the hangar this morning to talk with Dominic before he flew out here," Michael explained, "and I found that letter on the door."

Cassie heard the words that Michael had spoke to Hawke, but she didn't want to accept them. If Dominic was in danger it was her fault. She quickly moved to the open door and looked pleadingly into Michael's eyes as if looking for something that would indicate she had heard him wrong.

"What are they asking for?" Hawke asked, as he pulled the letter out of the envelope.

"They want to trade him for Cassie and her belongings," Michael said

Hawke turned and looked at Cassie, then back to Michael.

_A good man was in dire straights and it was her fault,_ Cassie told herself. She wanted to tell String that their only option was to make the trade but she also knew that by so doing she would, very likely, be trading with her life. She stood staring at the two men, unable to speak with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"It says here that they will call the phone at the hangar at 8:00am and give us the details for the place and time of the exchange." Hawke pointed out as he read the letter.

He looked up at Michael, "That doesn't give us much time."

_When was this nightmare going to stop?_ Cassie kept asking herself. By allowing Dominic to help her she had endangered his life. Cassie was beginning to understand Hawke's view on life.

Finally she found the courage she needed to act and declared, "I will do whatever is necessary to save Dominic."

String turned to look at Cassie. He could see the fear in her eyes but he could also hear the determination in her voice. And he knew she had meant what she said.

However it was Michael who spoke first. "I'm sure there are other steps of action that we can take before we need to consider turning you over," he said, in a take charge manner, and then walked past Hawke and Cassie and on into the cabin.

String looked at his watch. "We have three hours to make a plan and prepare," he called out to Michael and he too walked back into the cabin.

"First, I want to ask Cassie a few more questions," Michael said, turning his attention to her.

"Ask," Cassie responded. "I would do anything for Dominic."

Michael took a deep breath and started by giving a brief refresher of their conversation the day before. "We know that Damascus is under the assumption that you have the missing ledger in your position."

Cassie nodded in agreement.

"Now yesterday you told us that Mr. Erickson was home early and that he seemed distracted."

Again Cassie nodded in agreement.

"You also told us that Mr. Erickson had helped you carry your stuff out to the cab," Michael continued.

"Yes," Cassie answered, wishing he would get to the point.

"What items did he carry out for you?" Michael asked.

Cassie had to stop and think for a moment. "The cab driver took my trunk to the cab and I carried the suitcase. When I turned back to get the rest, I saw him came out of the house with my craft box and tackle box. I went back in and got my purse, climbed into the cab and didn't look back."

"May I look in your craft box and tackle box?" Michael inquired.

Cassie nodded and quickly retrieved the two items from where they had been sitting since her arrival the day before. She returned to the couch and set both containers on the coffee table in front of Michael.

Michael opened the tackle box first. He was not expecting to see what he found inside. He quickly looked up at Cassie, with a surprised look on his face.

"I'm an Emergency Medical Technician," Cassie explained quickly.

Michael returned his attention to the contents of the tackle box and systematically removed every thing in it.

"There is nothing that shouldn't be there." Cassie said as she watched him examine all the contents and set them on the coffee table.

Seeing that Michael was finished with the tackle box, Cassie began returning her equipment, while Michael turned his attention to her craft box. He removed its lid and the first thing they saw was a finished plastic canvas design of a patched work quilt.

"That's beautiful," Marella exclaimed when she saw it.

Cassie looked up from what she was doing and saw Marella holding the finished needlecraft.

"I finished that the night I spent in the motel room." Cassie said, as she reached over and gently took it from Marella's hands. On a whim she turned and handed it to String. "Here, it will look good in this place."

Hawke held up his hands and began to protest.

Cassie looked him straight in the eye. "You have earned it with all you have done and all you will do for me. Please take it."

String reached out and took the craft. "Thank you," he replied.

When Cassie returned her gaze back to Michael and her craft box, she was surprised to see him pulling out a tan notebook that she was not familiar with.

Michael quickly leafed through the book to confirm that it contained the information they were looking for. His face widened into a smile that ran from ear to ear. "It was slipped in-between the stack of unfinished plastic canvas sheets," he explained.

"Now what?" Cassie inquired.

"Now we go wait for them to call," String stated. He turned and looked at Cassie and quickly explained. "I have no intentions of trading you for Dominic, but I do need your help."

Cassie had already decided that she was willing to put her life on the line for Dominic's freedom. She nodded quickly and said, "Just tell me what you need me to do."

They quickly loaded Cassie's belongings into Michael's helicopter and headed for the hangar.

During the flight back, Michael, and String discussed some possible ideas for getting Dominic back and keeping Cassie safe as well. But with all that was happening, plus the fact that she was flying, she made a concentrated effort to _not_ look out the windows. Cassie didn't pay any attention to their conversation.

Upon landing at Santini Air, String hoped out of the helicopter and ran over to the hangar. He unlocked the door and stepped inside and hit the button that would open the big hanger door. Then he jumped into Dominic's jeep and drove off without any explanation, leaving Cassie alone with Michael and Marella.

"Where's he going?" Cassie asked.

"Don't worry," Michael answered her. "He'll be back soon." Then Michael took Cassie by the arm and steered her towards the hangar. Cassie stopped and returned back to the helicopter where she pulled out her craft box. "I need something to keep me busy while we wait," she explained. Then the three of them walked into the hangar to wait for a phone call.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Ambush**

As String was driving through the Valley of the Gods, his mind was on both Dominic and Cassie. He was worried for Dom's safety, but Cassie had again shocked him by stepping forward to be traded for Dom, with obvious fear, but no hesitation. What did she possess that made her who she was? String didn't know. But part of him yearned to find out. To be able to find some of her peace in his life defiantly held great interest.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Back at Santini Air, Michael, Marella and Cassie were waiting for the phone to ring. Cassie sat on the little couch in Dominic's office working on a new plastic canvas design, with Marella watching to see how the needlework was done, while Michael paced the floor.

When the phone finally rang, Michael walked to a portable phone that had been connected to the phone lines at Santini air and picked up the receiver. At the same time, Marella picked up the receiver from the phone on Dominic's desk. "Santini Air, how may I assist you?" Marella said.

"I need to talk to Cassie Terry," the masculine voice on the other end stated.

Marella nodded to Cassie and held out the phone indicating that they wanted to talk to her.

Cassie quickly stood and took the phone. "This is Cassie Terry."

"As I'm sure you have been told, we have Mr. Santini here with us," the Voice said.

"Yes," Cassie said. "Tell me what you want me to do."

"I need you to meet us at Beilenson Park. Do you know where I'm talking about?"

Cassie didn't know but she quickly looked at Michael and he nodded his head. "Yes, I know where that is," Cassie answered.

"Go to the parking circle, we will meet you there in 30 minuets. We want you and your belongings waiting in the middle of the circle," the voice instructed. "Just you and your stuff, and make sure you bring all your belongings. Once we get what we are looking, for both you and Mr. Santini will be free to go."

"I'll need to have help getting my stuff there. I don't have a car," Cassie explained.

"Whatever it takes to get there, do it!" the voice boomed. "Just make sure you're there alone when we arrive."

Cassie was very frightened and didn't know what to do or say next. Michael could see that she was losing it, so he took over. "This is Michael," he said. "I'm an associate of Mr. Santini. I need to know that he is alright before we go any further."

Michael heard the voice instruct Dominic to say something.

"I'm okay. How . . ." Dom started, then was cut off.

"Now you know that your friend is alive. Make sure you follow the instructions," the voice demanded.

"I'm not going to leave Cassie out there alone. I will be waiting with her," Michael said.

"Okay, come, but come unarmed and alone. Just the two of you. You have thirty minutes to get there."

Then he hung up the phone.

Michael quickly turned to Marella and started barking out instructions. "Get a team over there on stand by." He turned to Cassie. "I know you don't like flying, but your stuff is already loaded in our helicopter and by taking that we can save some time that can be used to get the upper hand."

Cassie nodded that she understood. She took a deep breath and told herself, _You can do this; you have to do this for Dominic._

She picked up her craft box and followed Michael and Marella out to the waiting helicopter.

- - - - - - - - - - -

String had just cleared the top of the cave opening where the Lady slept, when Michael's call came in. He reached over and pushed a button that opened communications and said, "Where are we meeting?"

Michael's voice explained that he, Cassie and her belongings needed to be at Beilenson Park, in twenty minutes, at the circle parking lot.

"I'll be there," String replied. Then he cut off the communications and hit the turbo button.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Okay, Mr. Damascus," Stockholm began, "It has all been arranged they will be there in about twenty minutes."

"You had better hope she has the ledger with her, or the gun ship will be taking you out along with the girl," Damascus barked.

Cassie and Michael were standing next to the stack of her belongings, when a light blue Lincoln Continental pulled up in the parking lot. Stockholm got out of the drivers side holding a gun in his right hand as he scrutinized the suitcase, trunk, and other belongings of Cassie Terry. He was looking to see if there was any noticeable difference in the items he had seen when they had attempted to go thru them in the past.

"Okay you guys step back away from the boxes and stuff," he instructed.

"Not until we see that Santini is okay," Michael demanded.

Stockholm turned and waved to Kensington, who was in the back seat with Dominic. The rear passenger side door opened and out stepped Dominic, followed closely by Kensington, who was holding a gun to his ribs.

"Are you okay, Dom?" Michael called out. Dominic gave a quick nod.

"Okay now, step away from the boxes so we can go through them," Stockholm directed again.

Cassie and Michael took several steps away from the boxes and suitcase. Then Stockholm approached, holding his gun on Cassie and Michael. When he reached the circle, he turned his attention to the items at his feet and looked around to see a container or box that they might not have gone through during their first two attempts to retrieve the leader. Setting his eyes on the clear box, he looked up at Michael and Cassie to make sure they were not up to something. Then he knelt down and pulled the top off of the box and flipped it over, scattering its contents out in front of him. There in-between the plastic sheets was the ledger. He quickly grabbed it and stood, while he continued to hold his gun on Michael and Cassie, and started to back up.

"Okay, you have what you were looking for. Let Santini go," Michael demanded.

Stockholm's face broke into a large grin and called out to Kensington over his shoulder, while he kept his gun trained on Cassie and Michael. "Go ahead and let him go."

Kensington pushed his gun into Dominic's ribs, the same ribs he had broken only two weeks ago. Dom bent and groaned with the impact. Kensington placed a hand in the middle of his back and shoved him. Dom straightened and started walking towards Michael and Cassie.

Both Kensington and Stockholm backed up to their car and quickly got in, while keeping their guns trained on all three.

Just then a helicopter gun ship came flying overhead and opened fire on the three people standing away from the car. Michael grabbed Cassie and pulled her back away from the line of fire that was coming towards them, as he hollered at Dominic to get out of the way. Dominic dived off to one side, just as Airwolf flew in overhead, drawing the attention of the other helicopter pilot away from his quarry on the ground.

Cassie looked over to where Dominic lay, after he had dived away from the strafing bullets. _Was he hit?_ she asked herself. He was lying on the ground not moving.

Fear filled Cassie and she broke away from Michael and ran towards Dominic's still form. Michael grabbed his gun from the leg holster and ran after her.

Kensington's gaze had left the three people on the ground to look up at Airwolf as it flew overhead. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement in his direction, quickly he turned his gun in that direction and shot Cassie as she was running towards Dominic. Cassie body jerked back as the bullet hit her and she fell to the ground.

Kensington then turned to fire at Michael, but Michael shot him in the chest before he had a chance to pull the trigger again. Stockholm was sitting behind the steering wheel of the car. Seeing Kensington fall, he slammed the car into reverse and pulled out of the parking lot at high speed, and then he spun the car around and drove off.

- - - - - - - - - -

As String was approaching the meeting place, Airwolf began warning him that there was another armed aircraft in the vicinity. As he came in over the lake in the middle of the park he saw the helicopter laying down fire on his friends below. String maneuvered Airwolf to fly by the other helicopter and buffeted it with the air turbulence from Airwolf.

The helicopter pilot pulled out of the turbulence and turned his sights on Airwolf. String turned and led the enemy helicopter away from his friends on the ground. When he was over a desolate area of the park, he turned on the other helicopter and let lose a missile that hit the helicopter and blew it out of the sky. Then Hawke turned back towards the car driven by Stockholm as he raced away. He hit the turbos in pursuit and laid down a line of gun fire in front of the car in an attempt to stop its escape.

The car swerved out of the way and continued his retreat. String turned Airwolf again and positioned himself for another attempt to stop the car's escape. This time he used his machine guns to create a dust cloud causing Stockholm to miss a narrow section on the dirt road he was traveling and he hit a fence post. A white van pulled up and several armed men wearing white piled out and surrounded the car. Stockholm quickly tossed his gun out the window and the men moved in.

String turned back to where he had last seen his friends. As he came in for a landing, he saw Michael and Dom kneeling over a still form on the ground. He quickly landed, climbed out of Airwolf and ran over to them wondering how bad the young woman was hurt.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dom's head quickly lifted up as he heard the approach of the enemy helicopter. He saw the guns laying down fire at the same time he heard Michael's warning. Quickly, he turned and dived out of the way of fire and landed hard. Pain shot through his side and caught his breath. At the same time he heard the familiar whine of Airwolf as String flew in overhead. _Go get'em String_ he thought to himself.

Then he heard gunfire and quickly pulled himself up, turning to see where it was coming from. He saw Michael firing on one of Damascus's men. Then his attention was drawn to Cassie, who was on the ground.

Michael called out, "Dom, she's been hit."

Dominic quickly took stock of their situation, seeing one of the two men driving off in the car and Michael's attention on the other man. Then he looked up to see where the enemy helicopter was and decided it _was not a threat to them at this point._ He ran over to where Cassie was laying, tenderly he reached down and rolled her over so that she was facing him. She gasped and cried out it pain. Then she looked up at Dominic and asked, "Are you alright?" Her vision blurred as she tried to focus on Dominic face.

"Yeah," Dom answered, "We're all fine. You just worry about yourself, honey."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Michael confirmed that Kensington was dead, picked up his gun and walked over to Dominic and Cassie. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"Not good," Dominic replied. Cassie had been shot in the lower abdomen on her right side and was in a lot of pain.

"I'm sorry," Cassie called out to both men.

"Sorry for what?" Dom questioned, "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I was stupid," she said, tears coming to her eyes. "I should have stayed down."

"That all right," Dom told her, as he tried to comfort her. "Don't worry about that now."

Soon the familiar sound of Airwolf's return drew the eyes of both Dominic and Michael up to see Hawke as he maneuvered in for a landing. Dominic reached out his hand to protected Cassie's face from the blowing dirt kicked up by the blades.

- - - - - - - - - - -

As String approached, he confirmed that it was Cassie who was hurt. "Dom, how bad is it?" he asked.

Both men turned towards him and Dominic replied, "She's been shot in the abdomen."

"How bad?" he repeated as he looked down at Cassie.

Cassie now tried to focus on String as she said, "I'm sorry, I guess I'm not very good at this stuff," he said in an attempt of humor. She clinched her teeth as another wave of pain hit her. She turned to Dominic and said, "Dom I'm scared."

Dominic put on his best smile and told her, "Don't worry. Well take good care of you."

Cassie tried to smile back but her vision blacked out and she slipped into unconsciousness.

"We need to get her to the hospital," Dom said as he stood. "Help me get her into The Lady."


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**I Don't Want to be Left Alone**

Dominic and String were sitting in the surgery waiting room. Cassie had been in surgery for four hours and there had not been any word on how she was doing. While they were waiting, String told Dominic about some of the conversations he had had with Cassie while at the cabin, though there were things that he didn't want to discus with Dom or anyone else for that matter. He did take the time to explain to Dominic about what Cassie had told him about her family's death and how she had been put into foster homes until she was eighteen and from then on she had been on her own.

"Poor kid," Dom sighed. "She is going to need a lot of help and support."

Dominic was considering ways that he could help Cassie when the doctor walked into the waiting area. Both he and String stood to meet the doctor.

"How is she?" Dominic asked.

The doctor told them that he had to remove one of her kidneys, but other than that the damage had been minimal. The doctor went on to say, "She is young and healthy so her chances are good for her to make a full recovery."

"When can we see her?" Dom asked.

"She will be in recovery for about an hour," the doctor explained. "Then we will move her into a room, and you can see her then."

- - - - - - - - - - -

Cassie was first aware of the sounds of a hospital, the beeping of the monitors in her room, a voice paging a doctor to a report to a designated area in the hospital. Then she became aware of the quiet voices coming from the hallway outside her room. She tried to remember where she was and what had happened to her. _Why am I in a hospital_ she asked herself. Her mind was clouded and she had a hard time concentrating but after a few minutes the events of the past few days came rushing back to her: the murders of the Erickson family, Dominic being kidnapped, and her being shot were the first to surface.

Cassie opened her eyes and struggled to focus on the surroundings of her room.

Dominic was sitting in a chair watching Cassie sleep. When she started to stir, he turned and called out into the hallway, where String was talking with Michael and Marella. "She's coming to."

Then he walked over to her bed and smiled down at the young woman as he took her hand. Cassie gazed at him for a moment and then began to cry. Dominic lifted his hand and she grabbed it with both of her hands. Dom brought his other hand up and put it on her shoulder.

"Hey now, don't cry," he said, trying to calm her.

String and Michael came into the room and saw Dominic leaning over Cassie as he tried to comfort her.

Cassie looked at Dominic and she tightly squeezed his hand. "I don't want to be alone," she said as she struggled to stay awake, but she her strength was minimal and she soon drifted back off again.

Michael put a hand on Dominic's shoulder as he stepped next to him and said, "Hawke has been telling me about Cassie and how she has no family." His gaze turned to Cassie and he said, "The Firm will be picking up her medical bills."

Dom thought back on all the conversations that he had with Cassie about her family. Both her mother and father had taught her to be responsible and to always make sure she was responsible for herself. He knew that the medical bills for Cassie's care were going to be more then she could possibly handle.

"Thank you, Michael," Dom said.

String then looked over to Dominic. "You look worn out," he said, looking at the dark circles under Dom's eyes. "It's been a hard couple of days and you need to go get some rest."

It took some time before String could convince Dominic that he needed to go home and get some sleep. He even pointed out that he was still recovering from his own injuries. It was only after Hawke said, "Cassie would want you to rest too," and a promise that he would stay with Cassie throughout the night, before Dominic gave in and went home.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Cassie awoke the second time, her mind was not as confused and she was in greater pain than before. She forced her eyes to open and focus them on her surroundings. It was dark outside her window. She listened for any indications of someone else in the room with her but quickly concluded that she was alone. She decided that she needed more pain medication and started to move around in an effort to push the call button for the nurse.

String heard her movements and stood up from the chair where he had been dosing.

"Hi," he said, as he walking over to her bed. "Do you need something?"

"Yes," Cassie said, "Something more for the pain."

String stepped out to the nurses' station and told them that Cassie was awake and asking for more pain medication, then he returned.

"The nurse will be here soon with some more pain medication."

"Thank you," she said, her mouth sounding dry.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Yes please," she said.

String picked up a water cup with a straw and helped her get a drink. Then he returned the cup to the tray near her bed.

Cassie looked up at String and said, "I have to admit, you were the last person I excepted to see standing at my bedside in the middle of the night."

"Why?" he asked.

Cassie looked away. "I made you pretty mad the other night."

"Don't worry about it," he relied. "It may do me some good."

Just then the nurse came in and injected some pain medication to Cassie's IV. Cassie could feel the medication taking effect and looked up at String and said, "Thank you for staying with me." Then she drifted back to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Cassie opened her eyes the next time, the sun was shining through the window of her room.

She could hear voices out in the hallway. She listened for a moment and realized one of those voices belonged to Dominic. She called out, "Hello?"

Soon Dominic came in through the door, "Hey, you're looking better," he said with a big smile on his face.

Cassie smiled back and noticed that String came in behind Dominic, along with a doctor.

Dom and String stood back while the doctor checked Cassie over. Then the doctor told Cassie about the damage the bullet had made to her right kidney and that they had to remove it. He went on to reassure her that he expected a full recovery, in time. Then he left the room.

Cassie looked at Dominic and String and said, "Thank you for not leaving me alone." She looked away fighting to hide her tears.

"Hey, that's what friends are for," Dom responded as he placed his hand over hers.

String looked over Dom's shoulder at the vulnerability he could see in Cassie's face. It was then that her words from the other night really hit home. He did have blessings in his life, at least compared to her.

Dominic picked up Cassie's hand and said, "I've been thinking about it and I've decided that I want you to stay with me while you recover." Cassie's tears started falling faster and she was at a loss for words.

"Hey," Dom soothed, "don't cry."

Cassie managed to say a squeaky, "Thank you," as the tears continued to run down her face.

"Hey, no trouble," Dom replied. "I owe you for taking all the good care of me, after my fall."

String walked around to the other side of the bed, with a smile on his face and told Cassie, "Michael told me, that due to your help in recovering the ledger, He has arranged to have your medical bills taken care of." With this added information came a rush of relief. Cassie had been overwhelmed with the fact that she didn't have any medical insurance and being unemployed she didn't know how she was going to pay for the medical care she was receiving. "Please tell him thank you for me," she said as her tears continued to fall.

Dom sat down at the edge of the bed and wrapped his arms around her holding her close and felt String's hand on her shoulder. It was then that Cassie truly realized that she didn't need to feel alone anymore.

As String watched Dominic holding Cassie, a lump started to swell in his throat. He thought back to all many times Dominic had been there for him.

Cassie tired quickly and soon had to lay back and rest. But she still kept a hold of Dom's hand as she allowed herself to relax and fall back to sleep.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 17 We Both Learned Something Important

"Dinner is served!" Cassie called out as she set a platter of crab enchiladas on the table.

Michael, Marella, String and Dominic all came into the small dining area of Dominic's apartment and gathered around the table.

As Michael strode in he sniffed the aroma in the air and exclaimed, "That smells terrific."

"Thank you, Michael." Cassie replied, "Though this is only a small contribution of my gratitude towards all that you have done for me."

Michael pulled out a chair for Cassie to sit in.

"You better watch out, Michael." String said, as he sat down to the table. "Dominic has put on a couple of pounds, thanks to Cassie's gratitude."

"I have to admit, I have eaten well this last month," Dom chuckled. "Cassie is a good cook."

Cassie bowed her head as she blushed. "Some how I needed to pay Dom back for all his kindness," she explained, "And the only options I had to offer were cooking and cleaning."

After everyone had filled his or her plates and began eating, String commented that it was too bad there wasn't any brandy to offer a toast with.

Cassie turned to glare at String just in time to see his stone poker face break into a smile. He raised his cup of punch and said, "To Cassie's full recovery." All the others around the table raised their own cups in unison and Said, "Here, here!"

Cassie then stood and raised her cup of punch and said, "To good friends. Thank you one and all." This too was followed with full approval.

After sitting back down, Cassie turned and looked a String and asked, "Do you remember when I told you that I would trade places with you in an instant?"

Strings face turned back to stone and he replied, "Yes."

"Well I think I may have spoke in haste," she chided him.

String looked around the table until his eyes came to rest on Dominic and he asked, "While you have been staying with Dom, you decided that he isn't such a great blessing?"

"Hey!" Dom cried out.

"No!" Cassie responded, "Dom has already told me that he would be glad to be my surrogate father." Then she paused and wrinkled her nose at String. "Does that make you my surrogate big brother?" Everyone laughed.

"So why did you deicide that trading places with me was not a good Idea?" String asked.

"It's the flying," she announced. "You and Dom can keep that part of your life to yourselves." That brought another round of laughter from everyone.

Then Michael inquired, "Is that why we are eating here and not out at the cabin?"

"Yeah," Dom chuckled. "While she was still in the hospital, she made me promise that I would never make her fly in a helicopter again." There was yet another round of laughter, as Cassie blushed and ducked her head again.

Michael asked, "So Cassie what are your plans for the future?"

"I'm thinking about being a nanny again," Cassie said thoughtfully, then added, "that is if, I can find a family that isn't going to get me into more trouble."

"Maybe you should ask Michael to help you with that," String suggested. "He's very good at checking into people's backgrounds."

"Actually," Michael spoke up. "I do know of some families that would love to have a good nanny."

"That won't get me into trouble?" Cassie asked.

"I think we can find a place where both you and the family could be happy," Michael confirmed.

"Thank you, Michael," Cassie said with respect for this man whom she knew little about. "I would appreciate any help you could give me."

"When you're ready, just come to my office," Michael said.

"Oh, that reminds me," Cassie said, as she got up from the table and ran into the living room. She came back in with her hands behind her back and walked over to Marella, and pulled from behind her back a replica of the grannies quilt square that she had given to Hawke. "This is for you." she said as she handed it to Marella.

"I couldn't," Marella protested.

"I thought that because Michael would like dinner better then crafts, that I would give it to you instead." She again offered it to Marella. Marella still hesitated taking it, but when Michael piped up and said, "I'll take it, it would look nice in my office." she quickly reached out at took the craft and offered a sincere, "Thank you."

Cassie turned to Michael, and said "I'll make another for you if you are truly interested. But I think you would appreciate the Indian Starburst pattern better. You could use more color in your life." Both String and Dominic agreed with this statement as everyone chuckled.

"Thank you, but it is not necessary," Michael responded.

Cassie just winked at him and returned back to her seat.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Later that evening, String and Cassie were sitting out on the steps of Dominic's apartment building. Cassie looked up at the ski and commented, "I do miss the view of the stars from your cabin."

"You have to fly to get there," String pointed out.

"True," Cassie agreed.

There was silence for a few more minutes, then Cassie said, "String, I want to apologize for that night at your cabin. I shouldn't be telling you how you should be feeling."

"Don't be," String said, "Thanks to you, I realized I was taking Dominic for granted."

After a brief pause Cassie's said, "String I want you to know, that I would consider it an honor to think of you as my brother."

"I don't know if I can handle that," String teased Cassie in return.

She smiled and said, "I also want you to know that all this has taught me that I can't pretend that my parents can still be there when I really need them." Cassie said. "It's time I buried my Mom and Dad and moved on."

Then Cassie called to String to get his attention, and when he was looking at her she said, "I'll promise to fly in a helicopter to visit you from time to time." She took a deep breath and continued, "But I want you to promise me something."

"And that is?" he inquired a slight smile on his face.

Keeping direct eye contact, she said, "Please remember that there is more to life then death." Then, to make sure that he understood what she was trying to tell him she added, "Take the time to count your blessing and stop dwelling on your losses. I know you will be a happier person if you do."

String looked back up to the stars and promised that he would try.

Authors note: OK now you have made it all the way through the story, it would be nice to hear what you think. Please leave at least one feedback. Thank you.


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